Tainted Bloodlines
by Snowberryxoxo
Summary: Rhianna Smith has lived with Elijah for 12 years of reasons only Elijah himself knows what are. They arrive in Mystic Falls, but things quickly get complicated when she falls in love with Damon Salvatore and her tainted bloodline is revealed... Damon/OC
1. Keep A Low Profile

**A/N: Hii, yup I did another VD fanfic xD I'm a VD maniac and I'm proud of it! :p**

**Anyway, thank you for dropping by and taking your time to read my story ;)**

**I hope you'll like it and if it goes well, then I will of course try to update as much as I can.**

**Disclaimer: (Sadly) I do not own the Vampire Diaries or any of its characters, but I do own those that aren't in the books or the show.**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Vampire Diaries - Tainted Bloodlines

Chapter 1:

Mystic Falls.

It felt like ages since I'd last been here. It _was_ ages since I'd last been here – 15 years to be exact. Not much had changed, but I wouldn't want it to change anyway. Elijah – my legal guardian and best friend – had told me the day before we left our home in New York that it was for the best if we kept a low profile, because even though the town itself hadn't changed much, then the people had and there was especially one group of people I needed to stay away from or at least try not catch their attention.

"_Whatever you do, then _please_ don't invite strangers inside our home_," Elijah had told me before he left me at our new home. He had to go somewhere and take care of a couple of things, things that could only have to do with all the secrets he was keeping from me. "_I will probably be late, so don't stay up for me. Understood, Rhianna?_"

I'd nodded and then watched him leave. I waited until he was completely gone before I went inside our new home and took a look around. The house looked like all the others and had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice big kitchen, and a cozy living room where I could spend my lonely nights watching whatever movie was on TV.

A life with Elijah wasn't perfect, but I didn't complain. It was better than to live with a flock of orphans, who occasionally liked to steal your clothes or toys.

My biological parents gave me up after spending two years in the streets, trying to take care of me while being homeless, and what became of them after they gave me up, I didn't know. I would like to say that I didn't care about them, but that would be a lie. I might not remember them, but they were still my parents and tried their best to give me a somewhat good life.

Elijah adopted me when I was about… 4? 5? Yes, and he had taken care of me ever since. He was a great guardian, but because he was a real life vampire we had to move a lot and I hated doing that. Whenever I got to a place I liked and finally became friends with someone who liked me, then we would have to move again and start a new life in a new town.

However, this was my last year under the guardianship of Elijah and after I'd finished my second last and last semester in Mystic Falls High School I was planning to travel for a year around in Europe before I went to college. I had no clue of what I wanted to study yet, but I was mostly leaning towards English literature, which Elijah didn't have a problem with. He was happy as long as I didn't end up working as a stripper, which my mom apparently did for six months to take care of me…

A knock on the front door took snapped me back to reality and I went to the peephole to look who it was before I ended up inviting a vampire inside.

Again.

Last time I did that Elijah became furious at me, because the vampire obviously wanted to drain me for blood. But the only thing I could see outside was a young girl about my age with beautiful blond hair, blue-grayish eyes, and somewhat pale skin. But even though she looked pretty normal and sweet, then I still had a bad feeling about letting her in – let alone opening the door.

"Who is it?" I asked, opening the door a little but still with the lock on.

"Hi, my name is Caroline Forbes. I live right next to you," she answered kindly. I removed the lock and opened the door a little more. She took a good look at me and then smiled brightly. "I just wanted to welcome you to Mystic Falls."

"Oh… well, thank you. I'm Rhianna Smith," I said and shook her hand, but as soon as I touched her skin my suspicion was confirmed. I saw her drain a young man named Carter and become unwillingly a vampire. Instinctively, I took a step back and rested my hand discretely on the doorknob, ready to close the door if she tried anything. "So… you're going to be my neighbor?"

Caroline nodded and seemed genuinely happy to meet me. She had probably not been a vampire for long and wasn't out to get me like most vampires were. But that didn't mean that I was going to invite her inside, because I didn't know her that well.

"When are you starting at Mystic Falls High School?" Caroline asked curiously.

"On Monday," I answered shortly and noticed how awkward Caroline was feeling. I was giving her short answers and not being welcoming at all. It wasn't because I wanted to be mean or anything, but I just didn't feel like getting anyone to now right now. I'd barely been here for an hour and still needed to unpack all of my things. "I'm sorry, but I really need to unpack my things. It was nice meeting you, Caroline."

"You too, Rhianna," Caroline said, but before she left she handed me a note with a number on it. "I'm in charge of making you feel welcome and helping you settled down, so if you have any questions then just call. Ok?"

I nodded and closed the door, remembering to lock it in case anyone _human_ wanted to break in or hurt me. I knew I was just being a tad paranoid now, but it had happened before and it scared the crap out of me. A burglar once tried breaking in and he actually got inside, but Elijah luckily came home early and stopped him before the burglar got to my bedroom.

Speaking of bedrooms, then I needed to find myself one. I grabbed one of my suitcases and dragged it upstairs to the two bedrooms upstairs. One of them had a nice view of the street, but the other one had a cozy alcove where I could sit with my notebook, a book or my laptop. I chose the bedroom with the alcove and went downstairs to fetch my other suitcase.

Since the house was already filled with furniture, then the only thing I needed to unpack was my clothes, my personal belongings, and then wait patiently for Elijah to come home. I hoped he came home early, because I really didn't want to spend my whole weekend alone in this house. Sure, I had enough space to do almost whatever I wanted to, but the silence was unbearable.

"Maybe I should call Eli…" I muttered to myself as I was unpacking my clothes. I looked at my alarm clock that said 3:15 PM and sighed weakly. "_Or_ I could go for a little walk and call him later."

I chose the latter, grabbed my jacket and cell phone, and left the house. I didn't know where to go, so I just ended up walking down the streets.

My long, dark red hair fluttered in the cool wind and I caught the smell of something delicious in the air. The smell came from a local restaurant named the Mystic Grill and it made me remember that I hadn't eaten since we left New York early in the morning. I checked my pockets for money and found enough to buy myself at least a burger and a coke.

I stepped inside the crowded restaurant and saw a sign that said that they were looking for a new waitress. I'd never had a job before because I always had to move, but I figured that I might as well earn a couple of extra money, so I didn't have to beg Elijah to give me some every time. But first I wanted something to eat and luckily for me I had enough money for French fries too.

Normally, Elijah hated whenever I ate junk food and rarely let me have any, so whenever he was out I would either order a pizza or go to the nearest Burger King, but then again… what did he expect from a 17-year-old teenage girl? I ate my very unhealthy lunch and then went up to the bar after I'd paid to hear about that waitress job they had.

"Hi, do you know where the owner is? I want to speak with him or her about the available waitress position you have." I said.

The young bartender pointed towards a 40-year-old looking woman, who was talking with the waitress who served me my lunch, so I quickly walked up to her before she disappeared in the crowd again.

"Um, hi, are you the owner of the Mystic Grill?" I asked.

The woman said something to the waitress that I didn't hear and then turned to me with a friendly smile on her lips. "Yes, that is me. You're interested in the waitress job?" she said.

I nodded and she told me to follow her to her office in the back. She asked me of all the basic things and since she was currently almost desperate of getting a new waitress, she hired me right away and said that I could start today.

Her other waitress Karen – the one she talked with a few minutes ago – was leaving town soon, so I was going to be replacing her. And since I didn't have anything else to do today, I changed to my new uniform right away and began working.

Karen was sweet enough to give me a couple of instructions, good tips, and helped me become adjusted before she was picked up by her fiancé and had to go. After she left I then worked for the next three hours and took orders. It was as hard as I imagined it would be, but it was a little confusing to keep track of which food was going to the different tables.

The three hours went pretty quickly, though, and when I was done working for today, I went straight home to relax. I noticed that Elijah hadn't come home yet, but I remembered him saying that he might come home late and just went inside. I unpacked the rest of my clothes and headed straight for the bathroom to take a long, warm, and well-earned bath in the beautiful standalone bathtub.

My feet were tired of walking back and forth so much in those three hours, so it was great to be able to relax in a bathtub filled with warm water and soap. I closed my eyes and was supposed to only relax, but I ended up falling asleep and woke up one and a half hour later.

By the time I woke up the water was freezing cold and my usual olive skin was pale and wrinkly. I sighed heavily and quickly dressed, then walked downstairs to the living room and sat alone on the couch in my pjs. Elijah still hadn't come home, so I sent him a text and asked if he knew precisely when he was going to come. I was really starting to miss him, which was kindda strange since I was used to him being away for many hours and even a few days.

However, now that I _was_ home alone and had nothing better to do, then I might as well meditate and practice my powers. One of the reasons why Elijah wanted me to keep a low profile was that I was a real life witch and had powers that some people might find frightening. So I was _never_ allowed to use them outside or in public and I had to meditate once a day to keep myself balanced.

When Elijah didn't answer my message I started to get worried and called him instead. I didn't know if he was just busy or if something had happened to him, but I had a bad feeling that something definitely had happened to him and whenever I got a bad feeling about something like that, it was usually true. But Elijah luckily answered his phone and didn't even get to say hello before I did.

"Elijah! Where the hell are you? I know you said you were going to be late, but you've been gone for almost five hours!" I said.

I heard muffled voices in the background that I didn't recognize and Elijah suddenly hung up on me. I didn't know whether I should be furious or worried and tried calling him again. A woman's voice told me that his phone was out of service, though, so the only thing I could do was to sit and wait for him to contact me. _If_ he was even still alive.

It was simply excruciating to sit there and wait for him to come home, so I did something Elijah had told me _not_ to do and quickly fetched my tarot cards.

Tarot cards could be very useful at times, but if you weren't careful then they were going to reveal something about your future that you were going to wish you hadn't known. I'd tried it before to learn more about my parents and that was how I knew that they had been poor and young when they had me. But I needed to know if he was alright, so I picked eight cards, arranged them the way a gypsy once taught me how to arrange them, and then revealed the picture on every one of them.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	2. Friends

**A/N: Yay, I got some reviews - thank you! :D**

**Here's chapter 2!**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 2:

Hours passed by and before I knew it I'd fallen asleep on the couch. I was scared, worried, and anxious after I'd taken a look at Elijah's future, because I'd seen that whatever he was doing tonight, then it had gone unsuccessful. I also saw that an old enemy of his would return into his life and that he would be in great danger more than once, which really scared me. I mean, he wasn't just a vampire, but an Original too and he had told me that it took a lot to kill him.

"_Rhia… Rhia, wake up…_" I heard a faint voice say.

"Not now, mom!" I muttered without thinking and suddenly realized something. My eyes fluttered open and I gasped loudly when I saw Elijah sit on the coffee table, waiting patiently for me to wake up. I saw that his suit was ruined and he looked slightly pale, but he was alive and that was all what mattered to me. "Elijah! You're back!"

I hugged him tightly and saw a quick flash of what had happened to him. He had gone to an abandoned house to meet someone and ended up being staked by another vampire. I couldn't see who the others in the memory were, but now I knew why he came home late.

"Are you alright?" I asked worriedly.

"Yes, but I'm more worried about you. Why did you take your tarot cards out?" Elijah answered.

"I tried calling you because you didn't answer my message and _someone_ answered your phone, but hung up on me before I could find out who it was!"

Elijah frowned, but he thought back on something and groaned. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'm fine and I apologize for worrying you. Did anything happen while I was gone?"

I rubbed my tired eyes and looked at the watch in the living room. It was 8:45 AM and too early for me to get up on a Saturday. But now that I was up I might as well get some breakfast and get dressed.

"Um… well, I met our neighbor yesterday. Her name is Caroline Forbes and she's about my age, but… she's a vampire so I didn't invite her in…"

Elijah nodded as we walked into the living room and sat down at the dinner table. I noticed that he had bought food before I woke up, because he made a bowl of cereals for me, while he only had a cup of blood. He got the blood from nearby hospitals, because he wasn't that fond of hurting innocent people just to get blood when he could get blood in a much easier and cleaner way.

"I also went to a local restaurant named the Mystic Grill and got a job as a waitress."

Elijah met my eyes now, smiling at the good news. "You got a job? I'm very proud of you, Rhianna! So when are you going to start working?"

I smiled too and said proudly: "I've already started. I worked three hours yesterday."

Elijah looked genuinely proud of me, but I could tell that his attention was elsewhere. He was thinking about his trip to the abandoned house yesterday and how he failed to get something important. I wanted to stay out of his secrets and problems, but my damn curiosity wouldn't allow it.

"What happened to you anyway? I mean, why did you go to the abandoned house or mansion or whatever it was?" I asked worriedly.

Elijah finally turned his full attention to me and sighed. "You remember that story I told you about the Petrova doppelganger who ran away and became a vampire?" he asked.

I nodded. He used to tell me all kinds of stories about him, his siblings, and his half-brother Klaus, who was part vampire and part werewolf – a hybrid, I remembered him calling him.

"A vampire named Rose and her friend Trevor found Katerina Petrova's doppelganger and this doppelganger is still a human. But her friends came and saved her."

Oh… Now I understood why he was so… irritated. "I'm sorry to hear that. You want me to do a tracking spell?"

Elijah shook his head. "I didn't bring you here to work and I prefer to keep you out of my business. Just focus on your new job and school. If I need help finding her, then I'll call the Martins."

Oh, yeah. I'd almost forgotten all about Jonas and Luka Martin. They were both warlocks, who were looking for Jonas's daughter Greta, who had been kidnapped by Klaus. Elijah agreed to help them get her back if they helped him kill Klaus and get his hands on the doppelganger before she became a vampire like the previous doppelganger did.

"So what are we doing today? Practicing my powers? Watching a movie? What?" I asked to change the subject.

Elijah chuckled and took a swig of the blood in his glass, making me wrinkle my nose a bit. I wasn't a big fan of watching him drink blood and always found it very… revolting.

"_I_ have to talk with Dr. Martin and _you_ are going to explore Mystic Falls and hopefully get some friends this time." Elijah said, making me roll my eyes in distaste.

"C'mon, Elijah! There's nothing to do around here. Well, at least it doesn't seem that way, but even if there was then I don't want to get any friends when I'm only going to stay here for barely a year," I complained. "Can't you just put _one_ day aside for me? Pretty please?"

Elijah looked at me for a long time, but he couldn't resist my emerald green puppy eyes and finally gave in. He'd always had a hard time saying no to me – especially, when I was younger and wanted him to watch movies or go somewhere special with him.

"What did you have in mind for today, you spoiled little brat?" Elijah asked teasingly.

I ignored that comment, but before I could say a word I suddenly heard the doorbell ring and saw how alerted Elijah became. I guessed that it was just Caroline and went out to the door to check.

Yup, I was right. It was just Caroline, but Elijah left the house anyway, leaving a note behind saying that he would be back around 3:00 o'clock. I muttered a curse and finally opened the door for Caroline. I couldn't keep ignoring her just because she was a vampire.

"Good morning, Rhianna. I hope I'm not bothering you?" Caroline said cheerfully.

"Oh, no not at all! I'm just eating breakfast, but… did you want anything?" I asked curiously.

Caroline nodded. "I just wondered if you wanted to come to the Mystic Grill with me and meet some of my friends."

Wow, that was really sweet of her. Either she was up to something or else she was just genuinely being nice to me. It was hard to tell if she was acting, but my instincts didn't warn me about anything, so I agreed to come with her after I'd gotten dressed. I quickly went upstairs, pulled something on, combed my messy red hair, and then went with Caroline to the Mystic Grill.

"Did you move in here with your parents?" she asked curiously on our way to the grill.

I remembered what Elijah had told me to tell people if they asked me questions like these and shook my head. "My uncle," I corrected. "He took me in after my parents gave me up."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I live alone with my mom. She's the town's sheriff."

"The sheriff's daughter? Wow, remind me not to piss you off!"

Caroline and I laughed a bit and I began feeling a little more comfortable in her presence.

Maybe I just was being paranoid?

Maybe she was just a friendly teenage girl, who happened to be a vampire too?

Yeah, that was probably it. I stopped worrying so much about her intentions and just tried becoming her friend instead. I might only be going to know her for a year, but it was still nice to have some friends you could talk with and who could make your day a little better.

"Thank you for being so nice to me, Caroline," I said when we arrived at the grill. She looked at me and smiled, but there was still sadness or guilt in her eyes. I chose to ignore it and continued. "So who are those friends of yours?"

Caroline yanked me inside and ushered me to a table where her two friends were. One of them – a girl with ebony dark hair, dark brown eyes, and dark skin – was also a witch, while the other one – a girl with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin – was just a human. It calmed me down that I was in the present of a witch, because that meant that I could practice my powers with her without being looked oddly at and maybe we could learn each other a few spells.

"Hi girls, this is my new neighbor Rhianna Smith," Caroline said. "Rhianna, this is my two best friends, Bonnie Bennett and Elena Gilbert."

The two girls first looked at each other and at Caroline before they looked at me, which made me frown a bit. It felt as if they already knew who I was, so I guessed that Caroline had told them about me. I joined them at the table and we ordered something to eat.

"Do you like Mystic Falls so far?" Elena asked kindly, taking a sip of her coke.

"Yeah, it's really nice to be back and I've already gotten a job here at the grill," I answered, which seemed to surprise them a tad. "I was born here in Mystic Falls, but my mom left two years after I was born, so she could be closer to her… um… job, but she couldn't afford to take care of me and had to give me up for adoption."

"Oh… so you got adopted then?" Bonnie asked curiously.

I nodded. "By my uncle. We used to live in New York, but we had to move because of his job. I truly am glad to be back, though. By the way… are there any boys who are already taken that I should know of?" I answered.

Caroline and Bonnie immediately looked at Elena, who began blushing. I giggled and they suddenly all looked towards an attractive part-Italian looking guy, who was about our age. He walked in and smiled when he caught Elena's eyes from across the room. It didn't take long for me to find out that he was her boyfriend and that they were madly in love with each other.

"Is that your boyfriend?" I asked, trying to suppress my laughter.

"Yeah, his name is Stefan Salvatore." Elena answered slightly shyly.

Stefan was hot; I had to admit that, but not really my type. He seemed nice, though, and just like with Caroline I found out that he was a vampire too, but he was much older than Caroline. I wondered if Elena knew that her best friend and boyfriend were vampires. She had to know, because something like that didn't go unnoticed. I still remembered the time when I found out that Elijah was a vampire and I did that without touching him.

"You must be… Rhianna, right?" Stefan asked as he sat down next to Elena.

"Yup, that's me," I answered, trying to hide that I knew what they all were. But I got a text from Elijah, telling me to go to a certain address. I sighed heavily. So much for wanting me to get some friends… "I'm sorry, but I need to go. It was nice meeting you guys, though. I'll see you on Monday?"

They all nodded, but on my way out of the grill, I swore that I could almost _feel_ them all staring at me.

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	3. A Familiar Face

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the reviews! :D I'm glad to see that some have taken an interest in my story and I'm in a writing mood today, so a new chapter will be up later today ;)**

**For now, here's chapter 3!**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 3:

"Ah, Luka! It's nice to see a familiar face around here!" I exclaimed the minute I stepped inside their new apartment.

They were still unpacking their things, but it was going fast because they were using their powers. Luka made a red rose from a vase in the kitchen soar to me and I found myself giggling when I grabbed in the air. He was such a gentleman to me even though we'd only met four times and only knew each other because Elijah was helping them.

"It's nice to see you too, Rhia," Luka said, letting me hug him tightly. "I heard that you've gotten a job at a restaurant. Congratulations."

I smiled, but then I was reminded of why I was here and turned to Elijah, who sat at a table without his jacket on and he was reading an old book that looked maybe 200 years old. I walked up to him and sat down opposite him, wondering why he had told me to come anyway.

"I was actually just talking with my new friends when you told me to come, thank you very much for that," I said sarcastically, making Elijah roll his eyes of me and hand me the book. "What is it? A grimoire?"

"Something like it, yes," Elijah said. "I need you to do this spell and incapacitate Klaus so we have more time to stop him."

I frowned because Elijah _knew_ that a spell like that was even too much for me. But I could tell by the way he looked at me that he needed my help, so I nodded and looked at the spell on the page. The words were written in a very old and almost extinct language that I was still learning how to speak and the ritual itself looked kindda… unpleasant.

According to the book I had to use a personal item or the chosen person's blood and mix the blood with mine. Then I had to soak the blade of a silver knife with the mixed blood, chant out the old words, and stab myself with the knife.

My soul would temporarily leave my body and take over Klaus's and I could make him hurt himself or sleep for several weeks without him being able to wake up. I just had to plant the ideas in his directly in his head and then return to my own body. It was basically just like a normal possession spell, but just stronger and much more dangerous.

"Jonas and Luka will assist you and let you channel some of their power," Elijah said. "We've already prepared everything for you. You only need to do your part of the ritual."

"And you will then heal me when I get out, right?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.

Of course he would save me. Our bond was so close that we could pass as being related and not just close friends.

"Rhia, have I ever failed to save you?" Elijah said, making me shake my head and smile.

But after channeling Dr. Martin and Luka's powers and being handed the knife, I couldn't get myself to cut my hand, so I gave Elijah the knife and told him to do it, then closed my eyes and clenched my teeth as he did it without any hesitation.

"When you get inside his body, I need you to tell him to search around in Europe for the doppelganger instead of going to Mystic Falls – let alone America."

I nodded and watched the blood trickle down into the cup filled with Elijah's blood (since he and Klaus were brothers and shared DNA). I soaked the blade with the mixed blood and began chanting out the ancient words.

"_Somno Ritum Per Dax Ritum. Fes Matos Vanex Ondiemox, Fero Adio_…"

I could feel the extra power being drained from me and when I stabbed myself in my stomach, I felt something slip out of my body. It was my soul and it didn't take long for it to find a new vessel. Klaus, who was sitting at his desk in his apartment in London, was knocked forward when I entered his body and just like that I'd taken over his body and mind. I could feel what he could feel, smell the scent of a woman's perfume, hear the sound of her beating heart, and see what Klaus saw.

"Wow, this must be how it feels to be high on drugs…" I made Klaus mutter and quickly covered my mouth when I heard him say that.

God, this was… epic (!)

"Klaus?" I heard a man say and I immediately recognized his voice even though I'd never heard it before. I looked up at the warlock in front of me and remembered that his name was Maddox. He seemed a tad suspicious, so I looked down at the laptop in front of me and saw that Klaus had been looking through his emails at the moment I'd possessed him. He'd been looking for any clues of where the doppelganger might be hiding. "You said you had a location. Remember?"

"Yes, Maddox," I said. "There is a strong lead about her hiding in Europe."

Maddox frowned. "But we've already been in Europe…?"

"Are you questioning me?" I tried making him scared and sent him an icily glare, which made him quickly shake his head.

"Of course not, but–"

"We're going to France as the first thing in the morning and that's final."

Maddox sighed, but he nodded and left the office. I took a look at the lead Klaus had found and saw that he had in fact found the doppelganger's location. He had the precise location right down to her home address.

I deleted the email and even removed it permanently from the file with deleted emails just in case Klaus found out what I'd done to him quicker than I wanted him to. I then suddenly felt a tug inside his body and without any warning my soul was pulled out of his body and back to my own where Elijah was forcing me to drink his blood.

It felt like I'd only been away for a few minutes, but according to the watch in the apartment I'd been away for almost half an hour. I figured that it was because of the time difference and the fact that my soul went all the way from Mystic Falls to London.

"Rhia, are you alright?" Luka asked worriedly; sweat trickling down from his face.

It had been quite exhausting for him and his father as well as for me, but the plan worked and now Klaus would be searching Europe for a while without knowing why.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I could really use a nap," I said, laughing dryly as I got up. My body was aching, my stomach was sore, and I really did need to rest in my bed. "It was a good thing I went there, though, because Klaus had just received an email with the doppelganger's exact location. I deleted it and even removed it from the file with deleted emails."

"Good, that will buy us at least a few months," Elijah said, helping me over to the couch. "Did you see if he's working with any witches?"

I nodded. "Or more like a warlock. His name was Maddox and… I think that Greta was there too, but I didn't get to see her. I could just sense that she was there."

Luka sighed in relief, but he was still very worried of his sister's well-being when she was in Klaus's presence. He could kill her any minute and get himself another witch to help him do whatever Greta was supposed to do for him.

"Does this mean that I can go home now?" I asked.

"Yes, take my car," Elijah said, handing me his car keys. He normally didn't let me drive his car after how I crashed it the last time during one of his driving lessons, but I'd gotten better since the last time. "And drive_ slowly_ this time. I don't want to pick you up at the hospital again."

I rolled my eyes, jumped off the couch, and left the apartment maybe a bit faster than I intended too. I was just really tired and wanted to sleep in my bed before I fell asleep on a couch again. Last time I did that my back became a little sore.

On my way back to my new home, I tried hard not to fall asleep already and was just shy of falling asleep when I got to the street where I lived. The sound of a car honking woke me up and I quickly turned to the right and drove up my driveway.

I parked the car and yawned loudly as I walked up to the house, but when I was halfway the front door to Caroline's home opened and I locked eyes with a young part-Italian looking man. He was very attractive, had dark brown hair that went just below his earlobes, piercing sky-blue eyes, and cheekbones a male model would die to have. He was slightly pale, but he looked very muscular and probably had the body of a male model or athlete. He was wearing black boots under dark jeans, a black t-shirt, and black matching leather jacket that fit to his I'm-a-mysterious-bad-boy look.

I almost walked into the front door because I'd been too mesmerized by his piercing blue eyes, but I managed to avoid making it look like I was about to walk into the door and finally got inside.

I didn't know who the guy was or what he was to Caroline, but there was definitely something… dark, eerie, and still very alluring about him. I wanted to go outside again and maybe say hello to him, but I reminded myself of why I went home and just continued walking upstairs to my bedroom.

I slept peacefully for a couple of hours and enjoyed the silence for the first time. But even if Elijah had been home then I hardly thought that he would walk around in the house, making loud noises or having a wild party. That was the beauty of living with a vampire like Elijah.

When I woke up again it was almost six and my stomach was growling for food. I rubbed my tired eyes and walked downstairs to see if Elijah was even home yet. I saw that he _had_ been home, but he had to leave again and would be gone until Monday.

But he'd left his car keys out for me, some money, and the number to his new phone. It annoyed me that he'd just left again, because I hated being home alone, but there wasn't much else I could do. He was already gone, which meant that I had to spend the entire Sunday all alone. Or… I could hang out with my new friends and get to know them a little better.

I sent a text to Caroline and asked her if she wanted to do anything tomorrow and she quickly replied that she was busy, but she sent me Elena and Bonnie's numbers. I sent a text to them too and after getting another rejection from Bonnie, I was starting to worry that they didn't like me like Caroline seemed to do.

Or that was what I thought until I got a text from Elena.

She invited me and my "uncle" over for a welcoming dinner at her home, but since Elijah was out of town I would have to go alone. I wrote back, asking her when I should come and she replied that I could come over at five, which meant that I still had the whole morning and afternoon for myself.

Still, it was better than doing nothing, so I thanked Elena for the invite and then went to the kitchen to make myself dinner.

But I saw that Elijah had already cooked something for me and it smelled heavenly delicious as always. Then again, he had about 1000 years of skills and had traveled to almost every country in the world – something I'd never done before. I hadn't even left the borders of America yet, so I envied him a lot for being a vampire and being able to travel to any country.

"Yay, more food for me..." I said dryly and sat down at the dinner table.

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	4. Hot Tempered

**A/N: Hii, as promised - here's chapter 4! :D**

**Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 4:

The blank page in my notebook was starting to annoy me as I sat in my alcove in the quiet afternoon and tried using my free time to something useful. I'd read 50 pages in one of my books, cleaned the the kitchen (out of pure boredom), taken a shower, curled my hair (out of pure boredom again), and now I was trying to come up with a story, but it seemed that my muse had left me.

God, damn my muse…

I sighed heavily and grabbed my laptop instead, checking if any of my old friends that I tried keeping in contact with on Facebook was online, but even they had better things to do than to sit on Facebook all day and play Farmville or Robot Unicorn Attack. I used to play the last one for hours and became addicted to it, until Elijah had had enough and took my laptop away from me for a whole week. When I finally got it back, I'd found something better to do. Namely, writing stories.

"I could go to the Mystic Grill…" I muttered to myself.

I nodded and turned my laptop off, then left my home and walked all the way to the grill. I could have been lazy and just taken Elijah's car, but I figured that it would take some time to get there and that way my free time would go a lot faster.

When I finally got to the grill, I noticed that it wasn't as crowded as yesterday and found it a tad easier to relax. There wasn't as much noise and I didn't have to look for long to find myself an unoccupied table. But before I could even sit down at a table, I felt someone grabbed my wrist and heard a familiar voice say my name. I turned to the young 19-year-old waitress Lucy and smiled.

"Hi, Rhianna. I'm sorry to bother you, but my sister was just taken to the hospital and I wondered if you could take my shift. I promise I'll take one of yours another time. I just need to make sure that my sister is alright." Lucy said hastily.

I could tell that something horrible had happened to her sister and since I didn't have anything else to do, I said yes and suddenly felt her hug me tightly out of gratitude. I was happy that at least two of my co-workers liked me, because it would make my job so much easier.

I quickly went to the staff's restroom and changed my clothes to my waitress uniform and then went to the tables Lucy usually covered. She had just gotten an order for a cup of coffee, so I made the coffee and then went to the table, where no other than the guy I saw leaving Caroline's home sat alone, texting someone on his BlackBerry Storm.

"Here's your black coffee." I said kindly, and felt my heart skip a beat when he suddenly turned his piercing blue eyes towards me and smirked smugly.

"What happened to Lucy?" he asked curiously. "And what's your lovely name?"

I knew that he was flirting with me, but he had to do a lot more than just smirk and say things like that to make my knees go soft.

"Rhianna and Lucy had to go of personal reasons." I said and went to walk away, but he grabbed me by my wrist and as he did that I knew exactly why I got this strange feeling about him.

He was a vampire too and was turned about at the same time as Stefan. I wondered if they were related. It would explain a few things, but just because he might be related to Stefan, then I didn't exactly trust him.

"I don't believe that we've met before… I'm Damon," he said charmingly. "Are you new in town?"

I nodded, but I remembered what my boss said to me about chitchatting with the customers and tried coming up with a nice way to say that I was too busy to talk.

"I'm sorry, but I have other customers to–"

"I'll tip you more if you stay for two more minutes," he interjected playfully. I narrowed my eyes at him and tried figuring out what he was up to. He definitely seemed to be up to _something_ and that something wasn't necessarily a good thing. "What do you say?"

"No, thank you." I said and and walked away, which seemed to leave him speechless.

I never had a dying wish to have a boyfriend before I turned 18, because why rush something as simple as having a boyfriend and experiencing love when you were still just 17? I knew that I could die sooner than I expected without having the chance of experiencing love, but I didn't care.

There were so many other important things in the world besides boys and love. Elijah had taught me that after a boy I really liked, when I was only 13, broke my heart and I was thankful for that. Especially, now that I knew that he was a vampire and probably just wanted to drain me for blood.

However, Damon left after an hour of watching me in a very creepy and almost pervy way and an hour before I was supposed to go to dinner, I went back home and grabbed a quick shower so I didn't smell like sweat and food when I went to her home. I was excited to talk a little more with Elena and meet her family. So far I only knew that she was a human, 17 years old, and had a boyfriend named Stefan, which wasn't exactly a lot.

After showering and putting on some mascara, I quickly dressed and then left my home once again, but this time I took Elijah's car. I drove to the address she'd texted me and even though I did get lost a few times, then I eventually found her home and walked up to the front door, knocking twice just before Stefan opened the door and let me in. I wasn't surprised to see him here, but he seemed surprised that I came on my own.

"Are your uncle coming too?" he asked curiously.

"No, he's out of town. Work, you know. But he'll be back tomorrow," I said and I saw another familiar face walk in to the living room. Elena. "Thanks again for inviting me. Are everybody in Mystic Falls so nice to newcomers?"

Elena chuckled, blushing slightly because I was praising her, but I could tell that not everybody was as nice as she and her friends were. Then again, not everybody was a vampire or a witch.

"What exactly does your uncle do for a living?" she asked curiously as we walked sat down on the couch.

"He…" I glanced over my shoulder for a quick moment and froze when I saw Damon stand in the kitchen with a towel on his left shoulder, chopping what looked like salad from here. I frowned at the sight of him and wondered what the hell he was doing here. "Is he a friend of yours?"

Elena looked at Damon and noticed how confused I was. "Um, yeah, kindda. That's Damon, Stefan's older brother. You've met him?" she asked, almost worriedly.

"Oh, I've met him alright. Does he always flirt with waitresses and try charming them with his looks?" I answered.

Elena sighed in frustration and I wanted to ask why, but another boy – Elena's brother Jeremy – walked in and greeted me too. Jeremy seemed nice and Elena told me that she and her brother lived with their aunt after their parents died in a car crash. I was about to ask if she wanted to set her aunt up with my uncle, but then I saw her aunt enter the room too with a man, who was clearly her boyfriend. I soon found out that the man was also our new History teacher Alaric Saltzman.

Awkward…

"Ok, new subject," I said, noticing that Elena felt awkward about Mr. Saltzman dating her aunt too. "I know this is really silly, but… Damon is ridiculous hot even though he acts like a pervert!"

Elena laughed and I swore I saw a smirk on Damon's lips as I said that. I knew that vampires had enhanced senses, but I didn't care if he heard me or not. I was just stating the facts.

"Yeah, you're right about the last thing, but he knows it and he doesn't care. You're not interested in him, are you?" Elena asked.

I snorted. "God, no! Even if I was, then he would need to do a lot more to impress me." I answered.

"Good, because he's not the kind of person you want to get involved with. You can ask Caroline if you don't believe me. She used to date him."

That surprised me a little, but it explained what he was doing at her home. Maybe they were still friends with benefits or something like that. I didn't know and couldn't care less, really. He was one vampire I didn't want to get involved with.

"I know you're the guest and all, but we could really need a hand out there," Elena said. "I just need you to make sure that the risotto doesn't get burned, while I help Stefan decorating the table."

I wasn't too fond of going in to the kitchen when Damon was still there, but I could see that Elena was a little stressed out and went in to the kitchen to help out. Damon glanced at me and flashed devilish smirk that sent a shiver down my spine.

"I still owe you tips for the coffee," he said as I walked up next to him. "You sure you don't want them?"

"Yep, and you really don't have to give me tips," I said nonchalantly and checked the risotto. It still needed a few more minutes before it was ready, so I went to sit down at the kitchen counter, but as I did Damon stepped out and almost walked into me. On purpose. He smirked, but I remained calm. "Are you always this…"

"Ridiculous hot? Yes, I am." Damon said, smirking smugly.

I rolled my eyes and walked past him. "I would have said annoying, but now I think I'll add arrogant to it."

"Ouch!" Damon put a hand over his chest, pretending to be hurt. "So it's true what they say about redheads being hot-tempered then?"

I snorted and sat down at the counter, picking up a random magazine and looking through it absently just to avoid having to talk with Damon. I was right about him being arrogant and annoying, but I wasn't completely sure if he was a pervert or just too overconfident.

"So… Rhianna," Damon said playfully. "Are your boyfriend ok with your temper?"

"I wouldn't know, because I don't have a boyfriend," I said, keeping my eyes on the magazine. I could smell that the risotto was starting to burn, so I discretely used my powers to turn the heat down, which Damon didn't seem to notice. "And I only get hot-tempered when I'm in the presence a dick."

Damon laughed, but it shut his mouth long enough for me to check on the risotto. I could feel a prickling feeling on the back of my neck and when I turned, I walked right into Damon. But when I backed away, I accidentally put my hand on the edge of the pan and burned it, making me cry out in pain and hurry to the sink to get my hand under cold water.

"What happened?" Stefan asked worriedly.

I glared venomously at Damon, who was consciously looking away, and just to get back at him for doing that to me, I made the risotto explode on his face and body.

"Oh, nothing," I said, smirking at Damon who was glaring at me now. "I just burned my hand. Nothing serious. But I think your brother could need some help over there."

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	5. Witch

**A/N: Hii, here's chapter 5! :D**

**Thanks for the reviews, story alerts, and favorites ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 5:

My hand was still stinging after I burned it, so I figured I would put it under some cold water for a little while just before the dinner began. I went to the downstairs bathroom and pushed the door open, catching Damon by surprise as he was washing the risotto of his shirt and standing with nothing to cover his muscular upper body.

I didn't surprise me that Damon had six-pack, muscles, and looked like one of those guys girls would want to drool over, but I kept my composure and just walked up to the sink. Of course Damon smirked at the sight of me, but I wasn't going to let him have his way. I did wish that Elijah was here right now, because he certainly would be able to make Damon shut up and behave.

"I know that it was you who made the risotto explode…" Damon said as I turned the cold water on and held my burned hand under it.

"Is that so?" I scoffed without taking a glance at his ridiculous perfect body.

"Yeah… _witch_." Damon stepped away from the sink and began buttoning one of Alaric's shirts that he had borrowed since his own was wet and smelled of risotto.

I finally looked at Damon and saw that he was standing much closer to me than I expected. I was almost pressed up against the sink behind me and Damon had a look on his face that I knew what meant. He didn't trust me and thought that I was up to something. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, waiting for him to make his move.

"Do you want anything?" I asked icily.

"Yeah, I want to know what a witch like you is doing here in Mystic Falls," he said, smirking smugly. "I know you didn't just move here."

"Well, if you know that then why don't you figure out what I'm doing here too?"

I walked away and went back to the others, leaving an irritated and somewhat amused Damon behind in the bathroom. Unlike other girls, I was immune to his charm and he knew that. It was annoying him, because he was used of getting what he wanted without any problems.

"Rhianna how's your hand?" Elena asked worriedly, sending a quick glare to Damon who walked two feet behind me.

"Better," I answered and sat down next to her. "My uncle is usually the one who cooks dinner when he's home. I'm a complete mess in a kitchen."

"And who exactly is your uncle?" Damon asked, flashing me a disturbing smile.

"His name is Eli Smith," I answered, hoping that they hadn't met Elijah yet. I turned my head to Elena and remembered that I forgot to answer her question about what my "uncle" do for a living. "Oh, and to answer your question, then my uncle is a Historian. Very boring, I know, but he really likes History."

I laughed a bit and after a short tense moment we all began eating the dinner. Of course the risotto was missing, but it didn't matter because it still tasted good. I was pleasantly surprised with how great a cook Damon was and wondered if he'd made it all by himself or if he had some help.

"Where is your uncle now?" Jenna asked curiously, which seemed to catch Damon's interest.

Why would he want to know where my uncle was?

Was this why he was so suspicious of me?

"New York," I lied. "He had unfinished business there."

"Oh? What kind of unfinished business?" Damon asked.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but instead I did something else. I narrowed my eyes at his food and made it freezing cold, so when he took a bite of it he would hopefully break one of those pretty teeth of his. He took a bite of his food and winced when he bit in the hard piece of chicken. Everyone turned to him except me, who just sat and ate my dinner.

"What exactly do you do for a living, Damon?" I asked, smirking smugly. "No, wait. Let me guess… you're a car dealer, aren't you? You surely look like a man, who can charm his customers to buy a car."

Jenna laughed at that and agreed with what I said. The others laughed a bit too, but Damon just shook his head and went to take a sip of his glass of red wine, but the red wine was frozen too. He groaned lightly and seemed like he was starting to get pissed.

"I know I've said it before, but I truly am thankful that people has been so nice to me. It's hard to be new in a town where you don't know anyone…" I said to change the subject.

"You're welcome and hopefully your uncle will be in town the next time we invite you over." Jenna said kindly.

Yeah, hopefully.

We ate calmly the rest of the night and after the dinner I left the house and went out to my car where I saw the one and only Damon Salvatore leaning against my car and waiting for me with a devilish smirk on his lips.

"Do you always stalk witches?" I asked calmly and walked up to him with my car keys in my hands.

"Do you always annoy vampires?" Damon asked and his smirk widened.

"Only those who is clearly compensating for something."

I unlocked the car and went to push Damon away so I could get inside, but didn't budge. I groaned and sent him a venomous glare.

"What is your problem anyway? Did you once get cursed by a witch or what, because I seriously don't understand why you're being such a bitch towards me?" I scowled.

Damon snorted. "Who says I've got a problem? It's a free country. I'm allowed to stand if if I want to."

This vampire was either too smug or too stupid to realize that I was not a witch he wanted to piss off. I narrowed my eyes at him and sent Damon flying into the garage, making him hit it so hard that he smashed right through it. I heard a gasp come from the porch and saw Elena and Stefan stand there. I didn't care if they saw it or not, because I'd had enough with Damon and his smartass comments.

When I came home the first thing I did was to cry. I was frustrated, angry, and needed an advice from Elijah. I wanted to trust my new friends, but it was hard when they all seemed like they were up to something – especially Damon, who definitely was up to something. I'd only been in Mystic Falls for three days and I already wanted to go back to New York, even if it meant that I had to attend that Catholic all-girl school Elijah enrolled me in to keep me focused on school and not boys.

"What's wrong?" I heard someone say behind me.

I turned around and was partly surprised to see Elijah and partly relieved. I ran up to him immediately and hugged him tightly. That only made Elijah more worried, but he seemed happy to have come home early.

"Did someone hurt you? What happened to your hand?" he asked.

"It's-it's nothing," I lied. "Really. I… Can't we go back to New York?"

Elijah seemed to consider it for a moment and took me to the couch, so he could talk with me properly. He wiped the tears off my cheeks and stroked the back of my head.

"Rhia, I need you to stay here and help me. If anyone is bothering you, then tell me and I'll do something about it. As much as I want to see Klaus dead, then I don't want it to be at the cost of your happiness…"

I wanted to say that my problem was Damon Salvatore, but he was _my_ problem. Not Elijah's. Therefore, I just sighed and went up to my bedroom without saying a word. I locked the door after me because I really didn't want to talk with anyone right now. Not even Elijah, whom I missed so much whenever he left to go on one of his many trips.

Usually, he would call one of his friends to come and look for me like a nanny, but now that I was almost 18, I didn't need one anymore.

The sound of my phone ringing took my attention away from my worries, but when I saw that Elena was calling, I chose to ignore her call. I felt bad about ignoring her, but if I couldn't trust Damon, then how could I trust Stefan, Elena, and the others? They might know that I was a witch too and maybe they wanted to use me.

God, I hated being a teenage witch. My life was filled with so many unnecessary problems and no matter how much I wished that my life was different then no one was going to make my wish come true.

I sighed heavily and took a seat at my alcove, opening my notebook and started to scribble down a few random words. I didn't even notice what I'd written until I took a look and froze at the sight of Damon's name on it. He was the last person I wanted to write in my notebook.

Just thinking about him was a crime.

I yanked the piece of paper out, narrowed my eyes at it, and watched it as it burst into flames and became to ashes in my hand. I opened the window and threw the ashes out, but when I did, I saw a dark figure standing outside in the backyard. I closed the window again and as I did the figure disappeared quicker than I could blink.

This was un-freakin-believable.

I went back downstairs and caught the smell of something delicious in the air. Curiously, I walked in to the kitchen and found Elijah in there, cooking something that was worth four stars. I crept up behind him and looked over his shoulder to see what he was making, but he turned around and pushed me out of the kitchen before I could see what it was.

"Wait in the living room," he said. "I'll be done in… five minutes. Okay?"

I raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hell he was up to, but I sat down on the couch and turned the TV on instead. Luckily for Elijah, Supernatural was on, so I became completely distracted from what he was making in there and actually forgot that he was even in the kitchen, until he returned with two plates, handing one of them to me.

"Crème Brûlée… You madeCrème Brûlée for me?" I asked incredulously.

Elijah nodded and smiled, knowingly that I loved his Crème Brûlées. They tasted heavenly, but he rarely made it for me. I didn't know if he made it on purpose to make me forget about my problems and worries, but it definitely worked and put a smile on my lips.

"I also remembered to buy blueberry fruit tea. Your favorite tea if I remember correctly," Elijah said, making my smile grow wider. Elijah really was a good guardian and if I hadn't known that vampires couldn't procreate, then I would have thought that he was my dad. "Oh, and I finally figured out what the term WTF means and I'm banning you of saying or writing it again."

OMG…

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	6. Unknown

**A/N: Hii, again thanks for the many lovely reviews, alerts, and faves! :D**

**Here's chapter 6! **

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 6:

Avoiding Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, and Stefan weren't exactly easy. Up to several times I had to hide in places I would never have hid in, but it was better than to have to talk with them about what happened after the dinner. I did notice that Elena and Caroline left school grounds after only a few minutes and wondered what they were up to, but I still kept my eyes out for them and the others.

Of course I still had to attend my classes and sat in the same classroom with some of them, but I pretended like they weren't there and sat as far away from them as I could, which they seemed to notice very quickly.

At lunch I went to sit in the canteen, but I saw that Bonnie, Jeremy, Caroline (who apparently had returned), and Stefan were in there, so I spun around and went to eat my lunch somewhere else, but when I turned at the corner of the hallway, I almost bumped into the brother of my least favorite person. I tried walking away, but Stefan quickly grabbed my wrist and yanked me back.

"Rhianna, you can't keep ignoring us," he said. "We're not trying to hurt you. Look, I understand that you're mad at Damon, but Damon… he doesn't particularly trust witches."

I sighed heavily and leaned against the lockers, Stefan's soft gaze locked on me.

"This isn't only about Damon," I said. "I don't trust you or any of the others. I mean, how am I supposed to trust three vampires, one witch, and a doppelganger?"

Stefan's brows furrowed and I realized that I'd said too much, but my guess about Elena being the doppelganger was right and now I knew why Elijah specifically wanted us to live here.

"You know about the curse of the sun and the moon?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Partly. But it's not exactly small news, Stefan. Look, I'm not here to become enemies with you or your friends. I'm just trying to finish my last year, so I can finally move out and see the world like I always wanted to. You have a problem with that?"

Stefan shook his head. "Rhianna, I know that you think that we wanted to hurt you, but we're not. We do want to become your friend, because we know that you're alone and new and we also hoped that you could maybe help us find a way to protect Elena from Klaus."

"Oh… of course I want to help. You should just have asked then."

Stefan sighed in relief and smiled weakly. "Thank you. And I really am sorry about Damon's behavior. He can be–"

I smiled a bit. "Such a dick, I know. But as long as I don't have to be in the same room as him, then I'll help you protect Elena. It's not like I have anything better to do anyway."

We walked to the canteen to meet up with Bonnie and Jeremy, and I was surprised to know that Jeremy knew about witches, vampires, and warlocks too. I spotted Luka in the crowd, though, and he sent me a nod that calmed me down a bit. He was here too and I could turn to him in case my new friends were just being great actors.

After school I sadly had to work, but Stefan and Caroline went to the grill too, so I talked with them about all that they'd been through so far whenever I could, while taking orders and making sure that my boss didn't think that I took this job seriously.

I hadn't told them about Elijah yet, because I wasn't sure whether Elijah would approve of that or not. He might become angry or my friends might want to kill Elijah for wanting to take Elena with him after she'd been captivated by two vampires named Rose and Trevor.

However, to my surprise I saw that both Jonas and Luka Martin were at the grill too, so I went to greet them and took their orders too now that I was at it. Dr. Martin handed me a letter that he wanted me to give Elijah when he returned from his little trip outside town and I managed to hide it just before Bonnie came. She didn't stick around for long, because Jeremy came to the grill too. My instincts told me that something was definitely going on between her and Jeremy.

"Rhia, if you want to practice your powers with me this week, then I'm free on Thursday," Luka suggested after Bonnie left. "Elijah told me that you still have problems with some spells."

I nodded. "That would be great. We'll meet after school then?" I asked.

Luka nodded and I went to get them their lunch after making some coffee to two young men. My afternoon went pretty normal and it was nice that Damon hadn't bothered me all day, but I kindda missed throwing insults at him. As strange as it sounded, then I had to admit that he was somewhat humorous in a very annoying, smug, and pervy way.

Dear God…

Something was obviously wrong with me if I found Damon funny. I shook my head slightly and finished my shift, then went home. I was starting to settle in Mystic Falls, but it felt so different from all the other towns and cities I'd lived in. Maybe it was because I was born here or maybe it was something else, but I felt like I could call this place my home.

I didn't know why I did what I did next, but instead of walking by the cemetery, I went inside it and just walked around for a while, reading the names on the gravestones and not really sure of what I was even doing here. I just felt drawn to this place and maybe… maybe I hoped that I would find someone I knew. Maybe my grandparents or – God forbid it – my parents. I knew that they used to live here in Mystic Falls and I knew that my mom's name was Victoria.

"Are you looking for something? Or should I say someone?" I heard someone say behind me.

I was about to say that it was Damon, but that wouldn't make any sense because it was the voice of a woman and she had a British accent. I turned around and saw a young woman in her mid-twenties with short, spiky, brown hair and dark brown eyes. I had a strange feeling that she might be Rose, but I wasn't sure because he wasn't wearing a Lapis Lazuli ring. Then again, not all vampires were able to get their hands on a piece of jewelry with Lapis Lazuli in it.

"Who are you?" I asked worriedly.

If this was in fact Rose, then I was in big problems. It was one thing to take down a 100-and-something vampire, but it was a completely different thing to take down a 500-year-old vampire. She was too strong for me and she probably knew that.

"I'm Rose," she said, confirming my suspicion. "You work with Elijah, don't you?"

I looked confusedly at her. "What are you talking about? Who's Elijah?" I asked, trying my best to hide the truth.

Technically, I wasn't working with Elijah, but I did know him and helped him sometimes.

"Don't lie to me, witch," She stepped closer to me, so I stepped backwards. Where was Elijah when you needed him? "Elijah killed my friend Trevor and he nearly killed me too today. I know that you're working with him. Words about Elijah traveling with a red-haired witch get around, you know."

Oh, shit! "What do you want from me? I have nothing to do with you, your friend or Elijah!" I said.

It was true. I was trying to stay as much out as I could of Elijah's business and rather wanted to live a somewhat normal life where I didn't have to fear that something like this would happen.

"I want you to tell Elijah to let me live. I've been running for 500 years. I'm tired and I'm furious at him for killing my friend. So unless he wants to see you dead, then tell him to let me have my freedom. Are we clear?"

Of course I felt bad for Rose, but was she actually going to kill me when I had nothing to do with her friend's death? The thought alone made me shudder, but I nodded and she disappeared again. I sighed heavily and looked anxiously around in the dark cemetery.

Suddenly, I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket and felt my heart skip a beat. I closed my eyes, sighed, and saw that someone unknown was calling me. I pressed accept and hesitantly put the phone to my ear, wondering who was calling me.

"_Don't you know that it's dangerous be in a cemetery when it's dark?_" an unknown voice said.

A shiver ran down my spine and I quickly looked anxiously around again. This time I saw the same familiar dark figure and it was only 20 feet away from me. I gasped and ran as fast as I could away from there, not looking back twice. I didn't know how long I ran, but when I finally looked over my shoulder, I suddenly hit something hard and screamed. I felt a hand on my wrist, so I kicked whoever I'd run into in his stomach and knocked him down.

"I know you don't like me, but there's no reason to be scared!" I heard someone familiar say.

I finally looked up and saw that I'd run into Damon. He was smirking as always and brushed the dirt of his pants before lending me his hand to get up. I ignored him and got up without his help. I looked over my shoulder again towards the cemetery, but no one was there.

"Don't tell me. You were chased by your crazy lesbian ex, right?" Damon asked, smirking teasingly.

I glared venomously at him and walked past him. Damon chuckled and quickly followed me like a lovesick and annoying dog. I wanted to push him out on the road just before a car drove by and then kick him after the car had run him down.

"Your uncle doesn't happen to be a vampire named Elijah, is he?" he asked.

This time I stopped and that confirmed Damon's suspicion. "You know what your dear uncle did today? He threw a handful of coins at café and almost killed someone I know."

"If you're here to threaten me to tell Elijah to let you live after what you did to him, then I've already had that conversation with Rose. Anything else you want to tell me?" I snarled.

I was tired, anxious, and now he was making me angry. I just wanted to get home, relax, and maybe read one of my books. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Actually, yes. Can I trust you?" Damon asked.

"That depends. Can I trust you?" I answered. "Because so far you've done nothing but making me want to kill you, while your brother is being mature and having a normal conversation with me without deliberately pissing me off."

Damon snorted and didn't say anything, until we reached my home and I stood on my porch. "I'm sorry, ok?"

I froze and turned around, unsure if I just heard him say what I thought he said. He didn't seem that happy to say it, but he had said it and he meant it.

"I'm sorry about burning your hand and… pissing you off."

I took a deep breath and stepped closer to him. "It's okay, Damon. And… even though you did try killing Elijah, then I'm not up to hurt you or anyone else. What Elijah is up to is none of my business. I'm just here because someone is trying to kill me for reasons I even don't know what are."

Damon didn't say anything to that, so I turned around and went back inside, hoping that Elijah wouldn't be pissed at me when he found out that the others knew about me living with him.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	7. Answers

**A/N: Hii, yeah I did another chappie. I'm in a real writing mood for this story xD**

**Here's chapter 7!**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 7:

"Um… Elijah. Are you busy?" I asked hesitantly when I got home from school.

Elijah looked up from a book he was reading and looked at me with a look I knew meant. It was a what-have-you-now-done look. I sighed and walked closer to him, but still keeping my distance.

"What did you do now?" Elijah asked, making me blush.

"Me? I haven't done anything! But… Damon kindda figured out that you're my fake-uncle and Rose threatened to kill me if you didn't let her and Damon live. I don't blame her, though, because you did kill her friend Trevor." I answered.

Elijah frowned and closed the book. "She threatened you?"

I knew what he was going to do now. Now he wanted to kill her even more than he did before. No one was allowed to threaten me. When I was 12 and a 16-year-old girl I hated threatened to beat me up if I didn't give her my lunch money, Elijah became furious and the next morning the girl was freaking scared of me.

"You're not going to kill Rose. Or Damon or any of my other friends. If you do, then… then I'll run away from home." I said.

Elijah groaned and rose from the couch. "Did you tell Damon anything? About me, that is?" he asked.

I shook my head. "But I am trying to help him and his brother protecting Elena. I want to help if I can, but it's hard when they're pissed at you."

"In that case I better find myself a new place to stay. You will be staying here. I put the deed under your name too, so no vampire will be able to hurt you."

It frustrated me that Elijah had to leave, but I didn't want to put him in danger either, so it was better for both of us if he found himself another place to stay. We could always call each other if any of us needed something.

"Okay… but Elijah there's something I need to tell you. Sunday night I saw a dark figure stand outside in the backyard and yesterday when I was on my way home from work, someone called me and I saw the dark figure again. I think someone is after me."

That didn't help on Elijah's decision on moving out of our home. But I needed to let him know that someone was following me and that someone didn't seem like a nice guy, who just wanted to give me something I'd dropped. This man or whatever he was, wanted me for some reason.

"You don't have to worry about him. I will take care of him, but until I find him then it's for the better if you wear this ring…"

Elijah swiftly fetched a small box from his bedroom and in it was a beautiful ring with a purple amethyst. It was really old, but I knew exactly what it was because I'd seen it before a few years ago.

"This used to belong to your mother," Elijah said. "It's a resurrection ring for witches. It has been passed down in your family and your mother gave it to you before she left you at the orphanage."

"A resurrection ring for witches? Why would she have such a powerful ring? Was she a witch too?" I asked curiously.

Elijah smiled because I was asking him of so many questions. "Yes, she was. So were your grandparents and your other ancestors. But I'll tell you more about that another time. Just remember to wear this at all time. It will protect you from being killed by another supernatural being," he answered. "As for your friendship with them, then just try to help them as much as you can without revealing too much. We don't know if we can trust them."

I nodded understandingly and felt my cell phone vibrate. I'd received a text from Elena. She was asking me to come to her place because they wanted to talk with me about something. I wondered who they were. I might have forgiven Damon for burning my hand and being an ass, but he was still pretty annoying and like a wildcard. You never knew when to trust that guy.

"I need to go, but remember to tell me where you're moving to," I said. "Oh, and do I really have to live all alone now?"

Elijah nodded. "I'm sure you can handle it. But I will be keeping an eye on you, so don't throw a party now that you have the house for yourself," he said. "Understood?"

I rolled my eyes and left our-well, my home. The 10 minute walk to Elena's home was… kindda nerve-wracking, because I constantly feared that the mysterious man would follow me or maybe call me again. How he had even gotten my number, I didn't know. I never gave my number to strangers and I changed my number every year (Elijah's idea) as a safety precaution.

Luckily, I got to Elena's home safely, but unfortunately Damon's car was there which meant that he was there too. I walked up to the door anyway, though, and was about to knock on the door when Damon suddenly opened the door and flashed another one of his usual smirks, while looking up and down at me in a creepy way that made me slightly uncomfortable.

"Have you talked with Elijah?" he asked curiously.

"Hello to you too, Damon," I said sarcastically, making him roll his eyes. "But yes, I did talk with him and he wasn't that happy about Rose threatening me."

Damon snorted and leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes a bit at me. I tried figuring out what he was thinking, but it was nearly impossible with that distracting smirk on his face. He kindda reminded me of the pervy fallen angel Patch Cipriano from the book _Hush, Hush_ by Becca Fitzpatrick that Elijah gave me on my 16th birthday.

"Are you going to tell us why you're even living with a vampire?" he asked.

I pretended to think about it even though I already knew my answer to it. "You? No. The others? Maybe. But that really depends on if you're going to be nice to me." I said and smirked teasingly.

"We are," Stefan said, walking past Damon to greet me. "And thank you for coming."

I nodded and went to walk inside with them, but Damon stopped me in the entrance and lifted my right hand up – the one where I had my resurrection ring.

"A gift from your girlfriend?" he purred teasingly.

I snorted. "Damon, you don't have to be a lesbian to despise you. Your voice alone annoys me." I scoffed.

"I don't believe that," Damon leaned closer to me, so close that I could smell the scent of something metallic and alcoholic in his breath. I could feel my heartbeat's pace increase a little, but not enough to let Damon think that he had gotten under my skin because he hadn't. "I think that somewhere deep inside that heart of yours you secretly love me. Then again, I don't blame you. I'm a very lovable person!"

I laughed because it was really hilarious to see how hard Damon tried charming me to get what he wanted. I stepped closer to Damon, so close that our lips were merely inches from touching, and locked eyes with him.

"Damon, no matter how hard you try, then, you're never going to charm your way to get what you want from me. You're a douche bag and I don't like douche bags." I said softly, and walked past him and in to the kitchen where Elena and Stefan were waiting.

"Rhianna, what do you know about moonstones?" Stefan asked.

"Moonstones? Well, I know that with the correct combination of blood from a werewolf, a vampire, and a doppelganger of the Petrova bloodline, and the stone, a witch can reverse the curse of the sun and the moon," I said, remembering what Elijah told me about the curse. "I also know that you can draw power from a moonstone."

"Do you know how to destroy a spelled moonstone?" Elena asked.

"Destroy? Uh, well… I might be able to help you destroy the spell, but I'm going to need help doing it. I do have a friend here in Mystic Falls, who can help me do it." I answered.

I wondered if Damon was going to ask me a question too, but he surprisingly remained quiet, so I asked them a question.

"Can I see the moonstone?" I asked.

"Well… the thing is… we don't have it. Katherine Pierce has it and she is trapped inside a tomb," Elena said. "And she is not going to give it to us."

Oh… I bet Elijah would be pleased to hear that Katherine was here. "Well, then it's a good thing I know a way to get inside to her and take it from her."

Damon looked doubtfully at me. "And just how are you going to do that?" he asked.

I smirked smugly at him. "Just tell Bonnie that I need her help with it and leave the rest to me."

Damon snorted. "And then you're going to give the moonstone to Elijah. I don't think so, Rhia."

Was he still acting like that? Dear God, that vamp seriously had some major issues with witches. I rolled my eyes of him and said. "Fine, if you don't want my help then get it out yourself."

I left the house and was gone before they could stop me. I'd had enough with Damon for today. How was I supposed to trust or even help them when he didn't trust me?

You knew what? Screw them. Screw their problems and screw Damon!

I shouldn't have tried to become their friend, because no matter what I did then they still thought that I was going to betray them and kill all of them as if I was some psychotic vampire like Klaus and not just a simple 17-year-old witch, who happened to be adopted by a vampire.

I took a deep breath and walked to the Mystic Grill, getting myself a coke and trying to enjoy my day off. I only got the chance to sit alone for a half hour before I got a text from Elena, asking me to meet her outside the grill. I wondered what she wanted and walked out to her, only to see that she was sitting in a car with Rose. I wasn't pleased at all to see Rose, but she seemed guilty about threatening me and did apologize when I got inside the car.

"Rhianna, I need your help with something Stefan and Damon can't know anything about," Elena said. "We're going to a friend of Rose named Slater, who knows how to find a way to contact Klaus."

"Oh… you want to make a deal with Klaus?" I asked worriedly.

Elena nodded and sighed weakly. "I can't put all my friends and family in danger. I'm the one Klaus wants and if anyone dies because of me…"

"Say no more. But if I have to help you when you threatened me and Damon clearly doesn't trust me, then I want your help too. A dark figure has been following me lately and this person got his hands on my cell phone number. Elijah said he would protect me, but… I'm still scared." I said.

"Of course." Elena said and I could tell that Rose softened a bit – maybe because she realized that I truly just was a simple 17-year-old witch.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	8. Trust And Honor

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the reviews, faves, and alerts! :D**

**Here's an extra long chappie for my lovely readers!**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 8:

Unfortunately for Elena and Rose, Slater was dead. Someone had staked him in his own apartment and to make everything worse, then his computer had a password, so we couldn't look through his files and find a way to contact Klaus.

We were about to leave when Rose suddenly heard a noise coming from the bedroom. She opened the door and went inside to look who it was and a woman stormed out of the room, crying hysterically because she had probably witnessed what happened to Slater.

It took some time for us to calm her down, but when she did calm down and Elena went to talk with her, I stayed in the other room with Rose. This was none of my business and I was still pissed about what happened today at Elena's place, so I just wanted to go home and relax.

"Why are you living with Elijah?" Rose asked though.

I glared icily at her because I was still mad at her too for what she did, but I eventually gave up being mad at her.

"He adopted me, okay?" I said reluctantly. "My mom couldn't afford to take care of me, so she sent me to an orphanage and after a few years Elijah came. He's been taking care of me ever since. I know you and everyone else don't trust me because I live with him, but I don't care. This isn't any of my business and I don't want to be a part of this… war or whatever it is. Elijah knows that and therefore he doesn't tell me what he is up to."

"It's hard to believe that a guy like Elijah is a loving guardian. Surely, there must be a reason to why he is taking care of you."

"Well… he hasn't told me why, but… sometimes he needs me to track down Klaus. I've done it before, but it's a very dangerous thing and takes a lot of my strength."

Rose frowned now and was about to say something, but she overheard something Elena said that made her frown at her. I turned my head to Elena and Slater's girlfriend Alice, and wondered what they were talking about.

"Rose, don't worry about Klaus. He's searching for Elena in Europe thanked to me." I said, smiling weakly.

Rose smiled too and we joined Elena in the living room. Alice had agreed to tell us the password to Slater's computer and to help us finding the answers we needed, but in return she wanted to become a vampire, which Rose and I weren't too comfortable about. Elena told us that she had just said that to Alice to get her help, which calmed us down a bit.

However, I noticed that this Slater-guy had exchanged dozens of emails about Elijah with a guy named Cody Webber and Elena told Alice to tell Cody that she was ready to surrender to Klaus, which annoyed me immense. I didn't almost die just for her to lure Klaus to her again!

"Elena, you can't do this," I said and Rose agreed with me for once. "I almost died when Elijah told me to make Klaus believe that you were hiding in Europe, so we could get more time to protect you."

Elena sighed. "I'm sorry Rhianna, but I have to do this. I can't put everyone in danger just because Klaus wants me. Besides, you agreed to help me get in contact with him, didn't you?"

That I did. I didn't think that Elena would surrender herself and if I had then I wouldn't have helped her in the first place. But it was too late now. Cody Webber was on his way here and he wanted to meet Elena. I saw Rose leave the room for a moment, while Elena went in to another room and left me alone with Alice.

"So… what exactly are you?" she asked curiously.

"That's a good question," I answered and walked out of the living room. I was about to send a text to Elijah about what Elena had done, but when I was about to send the text I suddenly felt a hand on my ass and quickly spun around only to see that it was my least favorite person in the world. "God damn it, Damon–!"

He shushed at me, so I lowered my voice and pushed him discretely out of the apartment.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I snarled.

Damon smirked. "I could ask you the same thing. I thought you didn't want to help us..." he said.

"I _didn't_. Well, I'll help Elena, but _not_ you. You have trust issues, you know that?"

Damon snorted and went back inside, giving Elena a shock too. I followed him inside and found out that Rose had called him. He wasn't too pleased about Elena being here and wanted her to come back home and stop doing whatever she was trying to do here.

"You know what, as much as I don't like your idea, Elena, then I'm agreeing in that you should get the chance to make your own decisions!" I said just to piss Damon off.

It worked. He sent me a venomous glare and went to me instead.

"You are really starting to push my buttons, _Rhianna_," Damon said, looking at me with those piercing blue eyes of his. For a moment I actually became scared, but I kept my composure. "Fine, I admit I don't trust you, but I got a very obvious reason to not to trust you."

I sighed. "You want me to leave then?"

"Yes. I want you to go back to your fake-uncle and leave town."

It hurt that Damon still didn't trust me because even though I didn't like him, then I still wanted to help and it was hard when he kept annoying me.

"Rhia, don't listen to him. We need your help. Please," Elena said pleadingly. I turned to her and could see the fear in her eyes. "_Please_."

"I'm sorry Damon, but you're not the boss over me. If I want to help Elena, then I'll do it and you know why?" I said, moving my gaze back to Damon. "Because she's my _friend_. Unlike you who is too arrogant to let anyone let anyone help."

I went in to the kitchen and Elena soon joined me in there, looking slightly worried for me. "Thank you, Rhianna. I know that Damon is… well, being Damon to you. I trust you and I know that you won't betray us."

I looked at her for a while without saying a word and sighed heavily. "It doesn't matter, Elena. I don't mind not having any friends; but that certain people don't trust me… it hurts a bit, you know. Elijah might seem like a bad guy, but he taught me a lot about trust and honor and… he's been like a father to me ever since my mom gave me up for adoption."

"Rhia, you _do_ have friends and we do trust you. You just need to tell us the truth. The whole truth."

The _whole_ truth? How could I tell her the whole truth when I only knew a part of the truth? I knew that Elijah wanted to protect her, but… maybe he had other things in store for her and me. I mean, Rose was right. There had to be a reason to why he adopted me other than the fact that he knew my mom and apparently also some of my ancestors.

"Okay, but just… just listen out. I wasn't sure of why Elijah took me to this town at first. He just said that he wanted to find the doppelganger before Klaus did. He didn't tell me to become friends with you or anything. I didn't even mean to get any friends, because we move almost every year," I said. "But… when I found out that you were the doppelganger and wanted to help you, then… then I meant it. I do want to help as much as I can, but a part of me doesn't want to be dragged into all these things. I just want a normal life and that's hard when I care too much about Elijah to leave him."

"You really do want to help, don't you?"

I nodded. "And I need your help with the man who has been stalking me. But first I'll help you, because I promised to do it and I'm going to keep my promise."

Elena smiled and took my hands in hers for a moment. She left and went back to the living room, but I felt a familiar prickling feeling in the back of my neck and knew that Damon was here. I turned to him and left the table I'd been sitting at.

"What do you want?" I scowled.

Damon flashed one of his usual smug smirks and suddenly pressed me up against the table with each hand at my sides, keeping me from leaving. I wanted to smack him, but there was something about the way he looked at me that made me freeze up.

"Are you always this glum?" he asked, slipping his arm around my waist.

"Only when I'm around you, Damon. You're kind of a buzz kill, just so you know it." I answered and tried pushing him away, but he wouldn't budge.

Damon smirked. "_You_ are a very annoying girl, Rhia."

I snorted. "And _you_ are a very annoying _girl_ too, Damon."

He chuckled and finally moved away, but only because he needed to compel Alice to forget seeing us and make her fall asleep. I still hated Damon, but whenever he got so close to me, I felt so… strange. I wanted to bicker with him and liked seeing him smirk.

Oh, no… he was starting to get under my skin, which was _exactly_ what I didn't want him to do.

I groaned and went back in to the living room, but as I did three unfamiliar men suddenly burst in to the apartment and they were looking for Elena. But the man who stood alone behind the two other men suddenly fell to the ground and I saw Elijah stand behind the man with his heart in his hand.

Elijah swiftly entered the apartment and walked up to the two others, facing the man who must be Cody Webber. He glanced at me for a moment and seemed slightly angry at me for being here. He didn't say anything to me until after he'd ripped the two other men's hearts out and dropped the hearts on the floor.

"Rhianna, you have disappointed me for the last time." Elijah said and then swiftly left again.

I was scared that Elijah hated me for letting Elena call Cody, because I never meant for this to happen. I was just trying to help, so that they could help me later. But at least now Damon didn't have to fear that I was working with Elijah because it looked like Elijah didn't trust me anymore. Or… maybe it was Elijah's plan to do that. Maybe he just wanted to help me get them to trust me.

Whatever the reason was then I was still scared and worried of other reasons. In the 12 years I'd lived with Elijah then I had never seen him so… cold-hearted like today. He ripped three men's hearts out. He could just have compelled them to leave, but he didn't. He _killed_ them! I thought that I knew Elijah, but this side of him… I didn't think that he wanted me to see this side, because he knew that I would become furious at him.

Elijah was right, though. I was furious and I didn't know whether to trust him or not anymore.

What else did he hide from besides this side of him?

How many hearts had he cold-heartedly ripped out?

I was quiet the rest of the trip back and waited in Damon's car as he walked Elena up to the door. I could hear them bicker a bit, but they got distracted by Jeremy who had a wound on his neck. He said something that made Elena and Damon hurry back to the car.

They quickly drove to a place in the woods where there was an old tomb – the one Katherine probably was in. I meant to stay in the car, but my curiosity became too much after a few minutes alone, I went to the tomb too just as a pissed off Elena left and went back to the car.

"What's wrong?" I asked Damon and saw that Stefan was trapped inside the tomb.

I guessed that their plan about getting inside the tomb didn't go as planned. This wouldn't have happened if Damon hadn't pissed me off. I could have helped them get the stone without anyone getting hurt while doing it. But it was too late to apologize and I didn't want to rub it in when it was Stefan who was trapped inside the tomb.

"It's a long story, but I think Damon owes you an apology," Stefan said, making Damon groan. I shook my head and walked as close to the tomb as I dared. "You still want to help us?"

I nodded. "Of course. Even if I really dislike your brother and all…" I said. Stefan smiled weakly, but I could tell that he was worried. I would be too if I was stuck in there with a vampire like Katherine Pierce. I'd heard many bad things about her. "I'll get you out of there, Stefan. I promise. I shouldn't have left Bonnie to do this alone and I'm sorry for that."

"I know… and I trust you. Bonnie has the moonstone, so… try work with her and Damon, and… make sure Elena doesn't get hurt." he said.

I nodded and walked back towards the car. Damon stopped me halfway there and said he wanted to talk with me for a moment.

"You do know how to get him out, right?" he asked worriedly.

I nodded. "It won't be easy, but I do know a way and if you behave then I might let you assist me," I said, making Damon roll his eyes. "Oh, don't be such a girl!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm a girl." Damon said and immediately regretted it because that only made me burst into laughter.

I patted his shoulder, trying hard not to giggle as I said. "Sure, if you say so!"

Damon groaned and tried taking it back, but it was too late. I stopped giggling, though, when I got to Elena out of respect for her "loss". I knew that it must be hard for her not to be able to do anything without being questioned, but I also understood why the Salvatore brothers were trying to protect her.

I did make a promise to Elena and I was going to do whatever I could to help her. Even it meant that I had to _disappoint_ Elijah again. But if Elijah kept secrets from me, then I would keep secrets from him too.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	9. The Lovers

**A/N: Hii, I meant to update earlier, but one of my budgies is ill, so I had to take her to the vet :'(**

**But thanks for the reviews, faves, and alerts :D**

**Here's chapter 9 - Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 9:

School was rather boring, but I almost wished that I'd stayed in school because when I got home I saw Elijah sitting in the armchair, waiting patiently for me. I knew that he wanted to talk about what happened yesterday, but I was too pissed at him. Of course I respected that he had some secrets and understood that he was a vampire, but he still didn't have to kill those men and he always said to me that killing a person was wrong, but apparently it wasn't now!

So as soon as I entered my home and saw him in the living room, I turned around and ran up to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me, but not quick enough. Elijah managed to get inside my bedroom before the door closed and sat down at my desk.

"I apologize for doing that in front of you, but I had to show them that they shouldn't try killing me again," Elijah said calmly. I didn't want to listen to him and just threw a lamp at him that he easily caught in the air. "_Rhianna_, I couldn't let them walk out of there. They were vampires."

"That's no excuse for killing them!" I snarled, throwing a plant at him.

Elijah caught the plant too and put it down on my desk along with the lamp. I couldn't remember the last time I'd become so pissed at Elijah, but I remembered that our last fight ended with me running away from home and almost getting kidnapped by a creep.

"This isn't only about me killing those vampires, am I right?" Elijah asked.

I wanted to hit Elijah, because ever since I had that talk with Rose and Elena about Elijah adopting me, I'd been questioning our relationship. Did he even love me? Or was I just a thing he needed to do certain spells or to track his brother with?

"Why did you even adopt me, Elijah? Just tell me _why_!" I said and sat down on my bed before I threw something more at him.

Elijah sighed heavily, rubbing his temples a bit before answering. "You are… you are the descendant of a very powerful witch. That is all you need to know for now, but keep it to yourself. I don't want to compel you not to tell anyone about it. But that's not the only reason to why I adopted you."

"Elijah, I want you to tell me _everything_! I know I've said before that I didn't want to take part in anything you were up to, but I'm older now and… I've learned that I _can't_ stay out of this, because my friends need my help. Either you tell me the truth or you… you stay out of my life."

I immediately regretted saying it, but I wanted to know whether I could still trust Elijah or not. He'd been my guardian for so long that I couldn't see him as nothing else, but my sweet, caring, and polite guardian. If he told me the truth, then I might accept that he was a vampire too and ignore what he did to those three men. I would be able to trust him again.

"I… can't, Rhia. I promised not to, but I hope you'll figure it out on your own," he said and stood up. He went to leave, but he stopped in the doorway and turned to me again. "I'm happy that I adopted you. I've really enjoyed spending time with you. And that is the truth."

I turned away and felt the rage boil inside me. Who did he give the promise to? Why can't he tell me the whole truth? And–

A loud knock on the front door took me right off my thoughts, but I went downstairs and opened the door, groaning instantly when I saw Damon on my porch.

"Is that going to become our new way of saying hello?" he asked, smirking teasingly.

I sighed heavily, fighting the urge to cry out of frustration from everything. Damon seemed to notice that I was in a bad mood and softened a bit.

"I'm guessing you had a talk with Elijah that didn't go that well…" he said.

"It's nothing. You need me for something?" I asked.

Damon nodded. "You and I are going on Elena-patrol today so Elena won't leave her house and go on another suicide-mission."

"Oh… sure. I… I just need to grab a few things," I said and quickly went back up to my bedroom, fetching a few things I could use to distract Elena from her worries. When I got back to Damon I saw that he was taking a peek inside my home from where he stood. I didn't mind him being curious, but there really wasn't anything to see besides my mess. "Did you tell Stefan that Elijah is alive?"

"Nope. He's got enough worries right now," Damon said as we walked to his car. "What did you talk with Elijah about?"

I was about to step inside his car when he said that, but I stopped and locked eyes with him over the car. "To sum everything up, then I'm pissed at him."

Damon didn't comment on that and just took me to Elena's place where I found Elena sulking on the couch. Of course Damon saw this as the perfect opportunity to annoy her and rubbed it in her face that she couldn't leave the house, which only made her more annoyed. But Damon got a phone call from Alaric Saltzman, who was apparently a former vampire hunter, and said that there was a change of plans. He told me to stay with Elena and call if anything happened.

"Don't glare at me, Elena. I had no clue that they were going to do this," I said after Damon left me with Elena and Jeremy. "But I did bring a couple of things with me that you might find interesting."

Elena looked confusedly at me, so I joined her on the couch and took the things out. I'd brought my tarot cards, talismans, spell books, and a crystal ball that actually could give you a yes or no to your questions. You just had to use the right spell and then it worked.

"Thanks, Rhia, but I'm not really in the mood for this," Elena said. I sighed and put the stuff back into my bag except for the tarot cards. I used them to predict my own future. "What does those they mean?"

I looked at the cards and became flushed when I remembered what they meant. "Apparently, I'm going to fall in love soon, but that can't be true because… well, it just can't be true!"

Elena giggled and leaned closer to look at the other cards. My tarot cards actually distracted her! Yay! I hid my satisfaction and looked at the rest of the cards.

"That one doesn't look good…" Elena pointed towards _The Moon_.

"It isn't. It means that I will be in a great danger and… that one means that I will be grieving, but I will find happiness elsewhere."

"Oh… and what about that one?" She was pointing at _The Devil_.

"Uh… crap. That would be either Klaus or that man who's stalking me. But I'm really confused about this _The Lovers_. I mean, I don't have any plans of finding myself a boyfriend. Not now anyway."

Elena smiled weakly. "You never know when it comes to love. I mean, I didn't plan to fall in love with Stefan, but I did and I love him more than anything now."

"I know, but… who do you think it is? It surely can't be anyone I know now even though the cards clearly say that I've already met the guy."

For some reason Elena began laughing, which worried me a lot since I couldn't read her mind. "What about Damon?" she asked.

"What? God, no! No, no, no, _no_! There is _no_ way in this world that I'm ever going to fall for Damon Salvatore. I _hate_ him and he hates me too," I answered maybe a little too quickly, which made Elena laugh. I groaned, took my tarot cards, and went in to the kitchen instead. "I will _not_ fall for him, I… I'm starting to go crazy."

I sighed heavily and sat down at the table, looking at the cards in my hands. It must have been a mistake. It had to be. I mean, who was I supposed to fall in love with? Certainly not Damon… I could of course mix the tarot cards again and try asking for an answer about who the guy was, but… what if it was Damon? What if he somehow managed to make me fall for him?

I ended up worrying about the prediction all day, but I got the chance to talk a little with Elena about all kinds of things and began forgetting about the prediction in the evening. But when I walked downstairs with Elena to get something to eat, we were both shocked to see Elijah here. He'd been invited in to Elena's home by Jenna and wanted to talk with both of us. Elena wasn't too happy about talking with him and so was I.

Reluctantly, we went back up to Elena's bedroom where we could talk with him alone. I wanted to throw something at Elijah because of that talk we had today, but he told Elena the truth about what he was trying to do and seemed like he had changed his plans.

Now he wanted to lure Klaus to Mystic Falls and make a deal with Elena. I wondered why he was doing this and realized that he was starting to get worried. Not only about, if he would be able to kill Klaus, but also about if I would still help him with whatever he needed me to do.

"I need one more thing from you," Elena said. "I need you to get Stefan out of the tomb when we make this deal."

Elijah smiled and looked at me, making me frown. "Fine. If we're negotiating, then I have something I want you to do for me too. Protect Rhianna."

"What? Why? So you can use me as a weapon later?" I snarled.

It was the first time I'd spoken during their conversation about what Elijah wanted and was up to. I knew that Elijah hadn't told Elena the whole truth, but I did promise not to tell anything and what I knew about Klaus couldn't help them anyway.

"No, so _others_ won't use you as a weapon," Elijah said. "You are a very powerful witch, Rhianna. Persons like Klaus might want to force you to help them."

"Oh… but if you won't tell me why you adopted me, can you at least then tell me if I have any family left nearby?" I asked.

Elijah didn't say anything, but simply handed me a piece of paper with instructions. The instructions told me where something was hidden.

"Follow the instructions and you will find the answers you need. But before you do, I need you to help me open the tomb. I have a spell that will work without you having to use a lot of strength."

As much as I didn't like that Elijah wouldn't tell me the truth, then I was happy that he at least tried helping me find the answers I needed without him having to break his promise. I went with him and Elena back to the tomb and with a little help from Dr. Martin, we did the spell that would allow Stefan to come out.

The only thing we had to do was to mix a couple of ingredients, chant a few magical words, and then I had to drink the elixir that would allow me to get in and take Stefan out. Stefan just had to take my hand and then he would be affected by the elixir to because it was in my DNA.

I went inside the tomb and got Stefan out without any problems, while Katherine stayed behind, scared of running out because Elijah stood at the entrance. She was scared that he might grab her and then kill her for whatever she did to him a long time ago. She tried to leave anyway, though, but Elijah compelled her to stay until he said she could leave. And when that was done, we all went home.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	10. Heartbroken

**A/N: Hii, felt like updating again and thanks for the reviews ;)**

**Here's chapter 10! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 10:

I didn't go to school the next morning, but stayed home and wondered whether I should look for that hidden thing or not. I wanted to, but… I was scared of what I might find. So I ended up watching TV instead and practiced some of my powers. I was in the middle of making the coffee table levitating in the air when I heard a knock on the door and Damon's voice, telling me to open. I got so surprised that I dropped the table and it crashed on the floor.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" I muttered as I got up.

I sighed and walked out to the door. Damon was about to say something, but then he saw the broken table in my living room and frowned.

"I lost focus," I quickly explained. "But is something wrong?"

Damon nodded. "Last night a werewolf named Jules attacked Rose and I… Rose got bitten. You know anything about curing a werewolf bite?" he asked.

Oh, God… Poor Rose. But who was Jules? And why did she attack them? I didn't ask, but shrugged and tried thinking of a way to cure a werewolf bite. I knew that a werewolf bite was fatal to vampires, but I had no clue whether there was a cure or not.

"I _might_ be able to help her, but I can't promise anything, Damon. A werewolf bite is usually fatal and will slowly kill her if she doesn't get the cure." I said.

"Well, what are you waiting for then? C'mon!"

I crossed my arms, narrowing my eyes at Damon. He sighed and flashed me one of his disturbing, but alluring smiles that made my heart beat faster. So it was true then. I'd fallen for Damon.

"Pretty please?"

I rolled my eyes, invited Damon inside, and told him to help him get all my stuff to his car, so I could use it at his place. I'd never been to Damon and Stefan's home before and was surprised to see that they lived in a beautiful 19th century-styled mansion that was fit for a millionaire. The inside of the Salvatore Boarding House was simply stunning and left me speechless at first.

"Why the hell haven't you invited _me_ here?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"I would like to say it's because you're a witch, but the real reason is because you're a redhead," Damon teased, making me roll my eyes and hit him hard on his arm. Damon just smirked and leaned down to me. This time I had a hard time controlling the pace of my heartbeat. "Still feisty, I see. But that's alright. I like feisty girls."

I could feel my cheeks become warm and red, so I turned away and went to the living room where I met Elena and saw just how bad Rose's wound was. I almost gasped, but Elena quickly signed for me to be quiet, and I saw that Rose looked pretty depressed. I would be depressed too if I was a vampire and was dying because of a fatal werewolf bite.

"Hi, Rose," I said kindly and went to her. I sat down in front of her with a box filled with different rare ingredients that Elijah had found for me through the years. Rose looked absently at me and tried smiling, but she was too tired and too glum to do it. "I'll try making you something that will heal your wound or at least take the pain away, but… I can't guarantee anything."

Rose managed to smile weakly and stroked my cheek gently. "Thank you, Rhianna. You remind me so much of my best friend. She died when she was 18, but…" She sighed and didn't say anything else.

I left the living room and Elena showed me to the kitchen where I set up all my things. I needed to boil a few ingredients, chop particular things of them, and grind it all together, and all those things I could do in this kitchen, so I just had to get started and hopefully, I would succeed.

"Are you able to make a cure?" Elena asked worriedly.

I shrugged and started looking through one of my elixir books. I couldn't just start mixing different things together and needed to find a cure similar to the cure that could heal a werewolf bite.

"Is that guy still stalking you?"

I turned my gaze to Elena now and wondered why I hadn't seen the guy lately. Maybe he was waiting until I was alone or maybe Elijah had already killed him.

"I–"

I was interrupted by the sound of Rose coughing and sighed. "You should get her to a bed. She needs to lie down and sleep." I said instead.

Elena nodded and went to help Rose upstairs. I continued looking through the book in the meanwhile and stumbled over an elixir that could make you stop falling in love. As much as I didn't want to fall for Damon, then I might want to fall in love later in my life, so I turned the page and continued looking for that cure.

However, I suddenly heard a loud thump upstairs and wondered if anything had happened. I walked over to the stairs, knowingly that Rose would probably soon turn into a monster.

"Elena! Is everything alright?" I yelled.

"_Um… yeah, we're fine!_" Elena yelled back, sounding a bit out of breath.

I hesitantly went back to the kitchen and after a few minutes I finally found a cure. It actually was the recipe to make the cure of a werewolf bite, but according to what the former owner of the book had written down, it didn't work permanently. Rose would need to drink the cure every week and that was a problem since one of the ingredients was almost extinct.

But I promised to help, so I began making it and was so caught up with the preparations that I never heard Rose sneak up on me before she bit me so hard in the neck that everything went black. I didn't even manage to scream and everything was going so fast that I didn't have any time to realize what exactly had happened to me.

Something changed inside me. The mind-numbing pain I'd felt for a split second was gone and was replaced by soreness. I tried opening my eyes, but they felt so heavy. Was I dead? No, I couldn't… or… could I? But even if I died then…

My eyes suddenly fluttered open and I gasped as I sat up in my bed-wait, what? I was at home? But…?

I looked around and saw that it was late at night. Damon was sitting at the alcove with a bottle of scotch and looked pretty drunk. I could see that he was heartbroken and feared that someone had died. Well, other than me, of course, but Damon would hardly cry over me. He seemed to be in love with Rose and… why was I even thinking about this?

"Damon, what…? What happened?" I asked worriedly.

I stepped off my bed and saw in my mirror reflection that my wound had healed up, but I was still very sore. I sighed and sat down next to Damon. I'd never seen him like this and wondered why he would come here if he was upset about something.

"Is Elena okay?" I asked.

Damon nodded and went to take another slurp of the bottle, but I yanked it out of his hands. He became pissed about that and hit me so hard with the back of his hand that I flew into the opposite wall. I felt a few ribs break and cried out in pain, which seemed to wake him up from whatever state he was in. He hurried to me and helped me sit up.

"Don't-don't touch me!" I cried and felt tears trickle down my cheeks.

"Rhia, I… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…" Damon bit his wrist open and pressed it to my mouth, forcing me to drink his blood. I felt the healing affect it had on me, but coughed at the bitter taste of blood in my mouth. "You should–"

"Shut up, Damon!" I snarled. "I just died and woke up and then you smack me right into a wall... If it wasn't because I felt this way about you, then you would be dead!"

I blushed immensely when I realized what I'd said and saw a frown on Damon's face. He sighed heavily and sat down next to me.

"Which way?" he asked quietly.

"I…" I sighed and groaned. "I may not despise you as much as I did before."

Damon chuckled and I wondered if he thought that I'd fallen for him or just cared about him. I hoped that he would believe the last thing, because it would never work out with him and me.

"Well, that's nice to know…"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, well sometimes enemies do become friends. So are you going to tell me who died besides me or do I have to guess?"

Damon's chuckle faded away. "Rose. I… I put her out of her misery. It was the only way. She… she told me that she killed you by accident."

"She did… but this little thing brought me back," I showed Damon the ring Elijah had given me. "But… you didn't know that so why are you sitting here? Did you enjoy seeing me dead?"

Damon didn't answer, but just leaned his head back against the wall and smiled dryly.

"I should go."

He stood up and tried walking, but he was too drunk to go anywhere, so I helped him in to one of the guestrooms and placed him in one of the beds.

"Get some sleep, Damon. We've both been through a lot today." I said.

Damon groaned. "Do I at least get a goodnight kiss?" he asked.

I snorted. "Hell no! You can kiss the pillow if you want to, but that's about it!" I answered.

I turned the lights off and waited a bit for Damon to fall asleep. "Rhia!" he called.

I stuck my head back inside the room. "Yeah?"

"Would you change anything about me?"

I frowned, trying to understand why he was asking me of that. But would I change anything about him? He was hot, yes. Kindda annoying too. But… it was all those things about him that I liked about him. "No, surprisingly I wouldn't."

Damon was silent for a moment. "Would you force me to drink sucky animal blood instead of fresh human blood?"

I shrugged. That I wasn't quite sure of. "Well… if you don't kill the person you're drinking the blood from, then no. Then again, humans aren't more worthy of living than animals. I mean, in the end we're all just different kind of creatures."

He was silent again and didn't ask any more questions. "Goodnight, Rhia… and thanks. For everything."

I smiled and said before I finally went to bed too. "You're welcome, Damon."

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	11. The Letter

**A/N: I'm in a bit of a writing mood, so another chapter will be up later tonight (it's 7:29pm here in Denmark) ;)**

**Thanks for the reviews and faves! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 11:

The temptation was simply too great for me to resist. I had to do it while I still had the chance. I grabbed my red lipstick and snuck up to Damon, who was fast asleep in the guestroom bed. Carefully, I leaned down to his face and went to put the lipstick on his lips when I suddenly felt one hand slip around my back and push me down onto him, while another grabbed my wrist and kept me from putting the lipstick on him. I blushed as Damon's eyes fluttered open and he sent me a devilish smirk.

"Don't even think about it, witch!" he chuckled and we locked eyes for a moment.

I pulled back and tried hiding my flushed cheeks. "So… um, how much do you remember from last night?" I asked to change the subject.

Damon sat up and groaned a little because he was probably feeling hung-over right now. I would too if I'd been drinking as much as he had.

"I remember finding you dead in my kitchen and making a mess – thank you very much for that – and the rest is kindda blurry. But I'm guessing we slept together since I'm in your house…" Damon said teasingly.

I snorted. "No, you took me here, got drunk, and then I left you in here to kiss the pillows. And now I'm going downstairs to have some breakfast. You are not welcomed to join me."

I left the guestroom and went downstairs, but when I did I felt a cool breeze as I was walking down the stairs and saw Damon stand in the kitchen without a shirt on. My heart began to beat faster and my cheeks became warm, so I went out on the porch to get some fresh air. I hated that Damon made me feel this way. He was so god damn annoying and smug… and still ridiculous hot.

"Have you heard anything from Elijah?" Damon asked, making my heart skip a beat.

I turned to him and saw that he was wearing one of Elijah's shirts because his own was stained with blood. He sat down next to me on the porch, handing me a cup of tea.

"Um, no. Well, I talked with him when he and Elena made that deal, but… other than that I haven't heard from him. But I thought that I would take another day off and look for something he said would help me. It's about why he adopted me." I said.

"Oh… I seriously don't trust the guy, but I'll help you find whatever it is we're looking for. I don't have anything better to do anyway."

I rolled my eyes. "That's nice to know…"

Damon chuckled. "Yeah, that and I remembered that I broke a couple of your ribs last night."

I sighed and went back inside to find the instructions Elijah had given me. After Damon and I had had breakfast, we left the house and drove to the address that Elijah had written down. It was the address to the cemetery and according to the instructions we had to find a particular grave that belonged to someone named "Thomas Fell". We began our search for the grave and ended up finding nothing after a half an hour of searching for it.

"I don't get it," I said, looking confusedly around. "It should be here."

Damon looked around too and suddenly grabbed my arm, dragging me to the old and closed off mausoleum at the end of the cemetery. He yanked the lock off as easy as nothing and pushed the door open, revealing another grave. We stepped inside and took a look around, searching for whatever could be hiding in here.

"Maybe it's inside the grave?" Damon suggested, walking up to the stone grave.

I was too weak to push the lit, so I left Damon to do it. He managed to open the grave and I walked up next to him to look inside the grave. I winced at the sight of the skeleton inside the dusty grave, which made Damon chuckle of course.

"Yuck! I think I just lost my appetite…" I said.

Damon smirked at me. "I didn't."

I rolled my eyes and took out a small flashlight I'd brought with me, lightening up the dark grave. Damon put his hand inside it and reached for something near Thomas Fell's legs. He found it and took it out, revealing a metal box with a combination lock that I had the code to. I unlocked the box and found a letter with my full birth name on it.

"Your full name is Rhianna Magdalena De Sauveterre… one of your parents must be French," Damon said. "Better open it."

I woke up from the trance-like state I was in and opened the letter. I felt Damon lean a little closer to me, but I didn't care right now. I wanted to know what the letter said.

_Dear Rhianna, I'm truly sorry about leaving you, but it was the only way I could protect you and make sure that you got a somewhat normal life. I contacted a vampire named Elijah a few days ago and told him to take care of you, but in case he doesn't get to you before you get adopted, then I wanted to give you this letter. _

_In this letter I have written down your father's address and even though he made it very clear that he didn't want to become a father, then he promised to help you if you one day found him. He also promised to keep my things somewhere safe where certain vampires won't find them. I want you to have those things, because you're going to need it later in your life. _

_I don't know if I'm ever going to meet you in person, but if I don't then I want you to know that I always loved you very much and only wanted to see you happy. And I hope that you too will meet that special someone in your life like when I met your father. I don't care if you choose to love a vampire, a werewolf or a warlock. As long as you're happy then I am too. Love your mom._

_P.S. If you happen to meet a vampire, named Damon Salvatore, then slap him in his face for me. I know it sounds weird, but just say that that one was from Victoria for what he did to me._

Damon frowned and turned his gaze to me, only to be slapped in his face like my mom asked me to do. I didn't know when she met Damon, but hopefully they hadn't slept together because that would just be gross and I would never be able to look him in his eyes again.

"What the hell?" Damon exclaimed.

"That's what you get for doing what you did to my mom," I teased. "What exactly did you do?"

Damon had to think about that. It was 17 years or more since he'd last met her. "Well, I remember a redheaded stripper named Vickie that I tried getting to bed with. I even tried compelling her, but she was on vervain, so… it didn't work. Too bad, because she had a nice–"

"Don't you dare say it! That's my mom you're talking about!" I snarled.

Damon chuckled, but then he suddenly yelled out in pain and I saw a stake sticking out from his back. I quickly turned around and was pushed hard into the wall by a man, who held a knife dangerously close to my throat.

I knew that if he stabbed me, then I would die permanent because the ring only protected me from being killed by supernatural beings, so I tried using my powers to set him on fire. He let out a loud and deafening screaming, but two more men came in and one of them knocked me unconscious.

When I woke up again I saw Damon lying on the ground, panting and trying to get the stake out of his back. I looked confusedly around and saw that the three men were dead. Damon had snapped the two men's necks, but he was bleeding quite a lot. I quickly crawled up next to him and yanked it out of his back, making him curse under his breath.

"Are you alright?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah, well I'm glad they ruined Elijah's shirt, but… we really need to get out of here before anyone finds us." Damon answered and quickly dragged me out of the mausoleum.

"But what about the bodies?"

Damon sent me a look that made me shut up and I went with him to his home before anyone else found us at the cemetery. Just before we stepped inside Damon's car, I thought I saw someone watching me from afar, but the person disappeared before I could take a good look at him.

"You got the letter?" Damon asked when we came to his home.

I nodded and went inside with him where we found Stefan talking with Elena. They saw both of us and became worried because we were both covered in dirt and blood. I didn't know where the blood on me came from, until I saw my mirror reflection. I was bleeding from my forehead and jaw, but it was merely scratches.

"What happened to you?" Stefan asked as Damon went to grab a drink he clearly needed.

"We were at the cemetery, looking for answers of why Elijah adopted me, and were attacked by these three men," I said, slighting out of breath. "I think they were sent by the man who has been stalking me, which means that Elijah didn't find him."

"Maybe he's the one who sent them!" Damon said, clearly annoyed by what just happened.

I shook my head. Even though I didn't trust Elijah, then I knew that he would never do such a thing to me. He was trying to protect me from those men.

"Come," Elena said, signing me to follow her to the kitchen. She helped me was the blood off, patched me up, and let me borrow some of her clothes that I could use after I'd taken a bath. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"I think so, yeah. It was a letter from my mom. She gave me my father's address, but… I don't know if I want to visit him. She wrote that he didn't even want to become a father," I said and sighed. "This is all freaking me out. I mean, I thought I could trust Elijah, but he's keeping secrets from me and now I'm suddenly able to meet my mom who once gave me up for adoption."

Elena shrugged. "I think you should go visit him. You never know what might happen. But if you do then just tell us. You don't have to go alone."

I smiled and nodded understandingly, then went upstairs to take a bath and clean myself. After I'd dried myself and gotten Elena's clothes on, I went down the hallway to find Damon and thank him for saving me. I found his bedroom and was amazed when I saw how big his bedroom was. He had a big-ass bed that was fit for a king and big TV too. I was so amazed that I didn't even see Damon walk in from his bedroom, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

I didn't know if it was because I was knocked unconscious or if I truly had fallen hard for Damon, but I suddenly felt extremely lightheaded and before I knew it, I was unconscious once again. God, this was so embarrassing.

Why did he have to make me feel this way?

Why couldn't I stop thinking about him when I hated him so much?

I needed to forget about my feelings for him or else I was going end up with a broken heart. Damon liked Rose and I sometimes sensed that he liked Elena too. I didn't want to be a replacement for what he couldn't have or had lost. And I definitely didn't want to fall for a blood-drinking vampire.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	12. An Accident

**A/N: Hii, again thanks for the reviews! :D**

**Here's chapter 12 with a beginning I think you're going to like ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 12:

A tingling sensation in my body woke me up and even though my sight was hazy, then I recognized the familiar pair of sky-blue eyes in front of me. I could feel that I was lying on something soft – a bed most likely – and my lips parted as Damon calmly leaned down and pressed his soft lips against mine.

I thought that I was dreaming and let go of my inhibitions, closing my eyes and kissing him back. I felt his hand glide down my arm and down to the hem of the borrowed white shirt, sneaking up underneath the fabric.

The touch of Damon's fingers on my skin sent a jolt through my body and I realized what I was doing. I quickly pushed Damon away and slapped him hard across his face, then jumped off his bed and left the bedroom in such a hurry as if the bedroom had been on fire.

The only thing that was on fire right now was me and I couldn't take the heat that rushed to my cheeks and the tingling sensation in my stomach that felt like butterflies. I ran as fast as I could downstairs and ran right past Caroline, who apparently had just arrived with Bonnie. I didn't know where I was heading until I came outside and felt a wave of cool air rush over me. It felt nice, but I still couldn't get the memory out of my head.

Damon kissed me! And to make everything worse, then I kissed him back and… I kindda liked it. I'd never been kissed before, but now I knew how it felt and it was… unbelievable. I'd felt a wonderful feeling inside my body that felt almost like an adrenalin rush.

"Rhianna? Are you alright? Your face is completely red!" Caroline asked worriedly, stepping outside to me.

I turned to her and blushed even more. I needed to sit down before I fainted again, so I sat down on the doorstep and took in a few deep breaths.

"Did something happen to you?" Bonnie asked worriedly now and sat down next to me.

I nodded and groaned weakly.

"I…I…" I couldn't speak. I was just too shocked to say anything.

"Ok, take a deep breath and calm down!" Caroline said firmly.

I took a deep breath and as I did, Elena joined us too which only made it so much more embarrassing than it already was. I couldn't get myself to tell them what had happened and felt like I was going to explode soon. The feeling was almost unbearable.

"_Rhia_!" my three new friends yelled at the same time, making me calm down and look at each one of them. They were dying to know what had happened. "Damon didn't rape you, did he?"

I know that Caroline was just joking, but the thought of Damon actually doing that to me made me feel mixed emotions.

"No! He-he didn't rape me, he… he kissed me," I said, almost a whisper, but Caroline heard it and her eyes widened. "I know it sounds stupid, but… that was my first kiss and…"

"It's not stupid, but why on earth would Damon kiss you?" Caroline asked confusedly, which caught Elena and Bonnie's attention now.

"I don't know! I walked in to thank him for saving me and fainted and when I woke up, he just kissed me." I answered.

They all looked at each other and then they suddenly began smiling. I groaned loudly and went back inside, not wanting to talk with any of them right now. I found Damon in the parlor once again and he sent me a smirk that made the butterflies in my stomach return.

"Filthy pig!" I snarled and left the parlor.

I went in to the living room and found Stefan on the couch. He was searching for the address in the letter and it looked like he had found it. He handed me his laptop and I saw that my dad didn't live that far away from Mystic Falls. It was a one and a half hour drive and I could visit him today if I wanted to. I just had to get my car and then… well, drive.

"Someone should go with you after what happened today," Stefan said. "I asked Damon and–"

"I'm _not_ going with Damon," I said, maybe a little too quickly and angrily. I blushed and tried again, more calmly. "What I mean is that he doesn't have to go with me. He's already done more than enough for me today. I'll just go alone."

I got up and went to leave, but Damon suddenly stood right in front of me with a glass of Bourbon in his hand, smirking like always and making me feel so stupid.

"I got time to drive you there," he said. "I don't mind going on a little trip with you."

He was just saying that to piss me off and it worked perfectly. But there was no way in hell that I was going to let him get under my skin.

"Yeah, well you were staked. You need to relax and…"

"And there is nothing more relaxing than a driving trip."

I glared at Damon now, shooting daggers from my green eyes. I so wanted to kill him right now. He was enjoying that he could make me blush just by smirking.

"You know what? I think I'm just going to go home and relax. Thank you for saving me, but I don't need any more help from you." I said.

I left the boarding house, but then I remembered that Damon drove me to his home in his car and cursed. Could my day get any worse than it already was? I embraced myself for a moment and looked up towards the blue sky, wondering where my parents and Elijah were right now. I could really use them because I was feeling pretty lonely. And vulnerable.

"_Rhianna_." I heard Damon say firmly behind me.

This time I merely sighed and turned to him. He signed for me to follow him to his car and I did without asking where we were going. I just drove with him and first said something when we left Mystic Falls.

"Where are we going?" I asked worriedly.

Damon glanced at me and smirked. "We're going somewhere far away where I can _rape_ you," he answered, making me frown and look at him. "Ah, don't worry. At least it'll be a memorable first time for you."

Oh, God… he heard my conversation with Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena. I closed my eyes, ran my fingers through my curly red hair, and sighed. Apparently, this day _could_ get worse. I opened my eyes again and turned my gaze to Damon, trying to remain calm this time when I talked to him.

"Why are you doing this to me? Do you enjoy playing with my feelings? Yes, I kissed you back, but it was an accident and… had I known that you would be such a dick about it, then I wouldn't even have gone to your room to say thank you in the first place. Rape me if you want, drain me for all my blood, but don't toy with my feelings just because you're a sadistic, egocentric, and lonely dick!"

Okay, maybe that wasn't so calmly said, but now he knew how I felt about him and hopefully he would stop. I couldn't handle all those new feelings and I was also just so scared to meet my father. He didn't want me and left my mom because of me.

"Your mom called me a sadistic, egocentric, and pervy dick, but… when you say it, you say it with such a passion," Damon said calmly and I wondered if I'd hurt him. He looked at me again and flashed one of those disturbing, but alluring smiles. "And just so you know it, then it was Rose who told me to kiss you because… she knew that I had feelings for you too."

I snorted. "I don't believe you. And even if I did, then I still wouldn't give you a chance. You're just using me as a replacement for Elena."

Damon narrowed his eyes at me. "Who said that?"

I shrugged. You didn't exactly had to be a genius to see how protective he was of her and how hard he'd been trying to save her when she was his _brother's_ girlfriend and not his. Damon and I didn't speak together for the rest of the trip. The only thing that filled the silence was the music coming from Damon's car stereo, which only made the trip more awkward than it already was.

When we finally came to my dad's home, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my dad lived in a pretty big two-story condo with swimming pool, yacht, and a really nice red Ferrari in the driveway. I was guessing that my dad lived a nice life and had completely forgotten all about me.

But when Damon parked his car and got out, I stayed behind because I was too nervous to meet him face to face. Damon stopped halfway at the front door and turned to me only to find me hiding behind the car. He walked back and crossed his arms, sending me a stern look.

"I'm really disappointed right now," he said. "The Rhianna I liked wasn't scared of anything and took the risk of making a risotto explode on a vampire even though the vampire could have killed her."

"I'm not scared!" I said, but it was a complete lie. "I just… it's 17 years since he last saw my mom and he has never seen me before. Maybe he won't believe that I'm his daughter and–"

Damon started making chicken noises and poked me, so I pushed him away from me and walked up to the front door, knocking without thinking on the consequences. When I realized what I'd done, it was already too late. The door opened and a 35-year-old looking man with dark hair, green eyes, and olive skin. As soon as he saw me his eyes widened and he muttered something in French that might have been a curse. I wasn't sure because I didn't know that much French.

"Victoria, you have come to kill me, right?" my dad asked with a light French accent. "I knew it. You're going to stab me with one of my paintbrushes and–"

"What? No! I'm _not_ Victoria," I interrupted, making my dad sigh in relief. "My name is… Rhianna. I'm your daughter."

My dad was speechless for a couple of minutes and confused too, but he eventually sighed and invited us inside. I didn't know if it was _crap-my-unwanted-daughter-has-finally-found-me_ sigh or if it was something else, but I just needed to get my mom's stuff and then I would be gone again.

"Look, I know that you don't want me in your life, but I'm only here to pick up my mom's stuff. She told me that you had it."

"Oh…" My dad scratched his head a bit and signed for me and Damon to sit down in the living room.

While he went upstairs and looked for the things, I took a little look around and saw several beautiful paintings of my mom in the very modern-styled condo. Most of the paintings were from when my mom was only about 16 or 17 and I now understood why my dad freaked out when he saw me. I looked just like my mom, but just with my dad's skin tone.

"Yup, that's smexy Vickie alright!" Damon said, noticing me staring at the many paintings.

I remembered that Damon had met my mom while she worked as a stripper and rolled my eyes. "And then you wonder why I seriously dislike you…" I muttered.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	13. Competitive

**A/N: Hii, thanks again for the lovely reviews! ;) **

**I'm in a real writing mood, so if I get five reviews in the next 3-4 hours then I'll update again :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 13:

"My name is Jean-Christophe, but mom just used to call me Chris," my dad said when he came back with a big box filled with all sorts of things – mostly old books. He put the heavy box down on the floor and dust came up of it, making him cough. "I'm guessing you're Rhianna's boyfriend, then?"

My dad nodded to Damon, who smirked of that and said: "Yes, you're guessing right."

I glared venomously at Damon. "No, he is _not_ my boyfriend. He's an annoying dick who keeps pestering my life." I said.

My dad stared at me for a moment because he probably didn't expect me to have such a filthy mouth, so I quickly apologized but he shook his head.

"It's ok. You've inherited a lot from your mom. Including her attitude, I see."

"And her temper," Damon added, smirking teasingly. "But no, I'm not her boyfriend… yet. I'm Damon Salvatore."

Now my dad raised an eyebrow, clearly recognizing the name. "You should have said that _before_ I invited you into my house. I've heard about you from my cheating ex-fiancée, whom you slept with in 2003. But she was a golddigger anyway, so… I should actually be thanking you."

That only made Damon's smirk widen. I was slightly surprised that my dad knew about vampires, but he probably did know about witches too since he promised to keep my mom's things and my mom _was_ a witch too.

"Who is your mom anyway?" Chris asked worriedly.

"I don't know. She had to give me up for adoption about 16 years ago, because she couldn't afford to take care of me, which I don't understand when you clearly have a lot of money." I answered.

He shrugged and sighed. "Rhianna, I did offer your mom money. I gave her money to get an abortion, but she refused to take them and then I gave her money, so she could take care of you, but she didn't want them either. She said she didn't want anything from me now that I didn't want to be a part of your life anyway. But… that was a long time ago. I was only 18 and… my parents didn't even know that your mom was pregnant. They wouldn't have approved of it and your mom knew that."

"Yeah, well it's too late to change that now. But thank you for helping me and now we have to go."

I got up, grabbed the heavy box, and tried leaving but the box was too heavy for me. I groaned and turned my gaze to Damon, hoping that he would give me a hand, but he stayed on the couch and merely smiled smugly at me, clearly finding this very amusing.

"Damon, c'mon! Give me a hand!" I said.

"Nah, I don't feel like it. But why are you in such a rush? We just got here and I'm sure that your father wants to hear _all_ about how we were attacked by three men today." Damon said.

I scowled at Damon and tried leaving without the box, but my dad quickly stopped me and pulled me back, looking slightly pale now.

"_What_ happened to you? Is someone after you?" he asked worriedly.

"It's nothing you can help me with and I got in under control anyway…" I answered and saw how hurt my dad became when I said that.

I didn't understand why, because he didn't care about me then and probably didn't care about me now. He wanted my mom to get an abortion and that hurt _me_.

"Jean-Christophe, I know that you're my father and just want to help, but you're too late. I'm 17 now and have lived my whole life without any parents to help or support me. You don't have to help me because you feel guilty about not wanting me 17 years ago."

My dad sighed heavily and took me in to the kitchen to sit down at the dinner table.

"Rhianna, I deeply regret the choice I made 17 years ago. I was stupid, young, and should have known better. I know that it's too late for me to say that, but I really do want to become a part of your life. I might not be able to protect you like Damon can, but I can answer some of your questions about your mom, about our families, and things like that. Your mom told me a lot about magic and showed me her own powers."

I was speechless. I had no idea that my dad knew _that_ much about the things that were going on, but he did and maybe he actually could help me with some things. I leaned back in my chair and thought a little about the cons and pros of letting my dad help.

"Fine, I'll let you help, but be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you," I said. "But don't think that I forgive you for the choice you took. Not yet anyway."

My dad nodded understandingly and thanked me in French. He began telling me about how he met my mom 17 years ago and about how they both had to sneak out at night to meet each other, because their parents didn't like each other.

It was all very romantic and somewhat bittersweet too, but it was nice to hear about how much I acted like both of them. I had my mom's fiery temperament and attitude, but when it came to love I was a hopeless romantic like my dad and tried focusing on other things than just the opposite sex.

But my dad told me that when he chose his career over love and me, he felt like he'd lost an important part of him. He'd been lonely and no matter how many beautiful women he met, then he could never find a woman like my mom, who had been his perfect fit – or soul mate if you could call her that. He wanted me to be happy and find someone to love because I never knew what might happen to me tomorrow. I tried telling him that I didn't care about love, but he refused to believe it.

"What about you and Damon?" my dad asked, making me blush rapidly.

"_Nothing_ is going on between Damon and me," I answered, avoiding his curious green eyes on purpose. "What exactly do you do since you can afford to such a nice place?"

"Ah, don't change the subject! I know that _something_ is going on between you and Damon, because I've seen how you look at him and why else would you have brought him along to visit _me_?"

I glared icily at my dad now. "_Dad_, nothing is going on between us. Besides, Damon is in love with one of my friends and I don't want to be a replacement for what he can't have."

"Oh…"

"Yeah… Well, it was nice talking to you, but I need to get back before it gets dark."

My dad nodded understandingly, but when I went in to the living room to look for Damon, he wasn't there. Neither was the box. The only thing that was left was a short note from him on the coffee table that said _Going 2 bar. D._

"Um… dad, could you give me a ride to the nearest bar?" I asked.

"Sure! But don't stay there for long. You're only 17 after all," my ad answered and grabbed the car keys to his Ferrari. "And remember what I said about love."

I rolled my eyes and got inside his car. He dropped me off at a local bar nearby where Damon's car was parked and handed me his number in case I needed anything from him. I thanked him for everything, hugged him, and then went inside to find Damon, talking with some random, blond-haired girl with big boobs and a fake tan. She was flirting with him and it made me so furious that I made the pink drink in her hand explode. She squealed, while Damon just smirked and turned to me.

Calmly, I went up to the bar and sat down next to Damon, who ordered a drink for me. I slurped the drink down and coughed a bit of the strong taste. The drink burned in my throat, but I definitely needed it. Damon ordered another one and I slurped that one down too.

"God, how can you drink that stuff?" I asked a tad hoarsely.

"You get better with time," Damon merely answered. "Did you get to talk with your dad?"

I nodded and told the bartender to give me a shot of tequila, which Damon quickly ordered too. He told the bartender to give him the whole bottle and when I'd finished my shot, he poured some more in my glass.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" I scoffed. "Because if you are, then you're going to fail miserably! I have a very strong liver and it takes a lot to get me drunk."

Damon smirked mischievously. "Is that a challenge?" he asked.

I nodded and slurped down the shot. Damon slurped down his shot and poured more up in our glasses. I was starting to feel a tad dizzy, but I forced myself to stay focused and calm.

"Damon Salvatore, I challenge you to a duel of who can drink the most before they pass out. If I win, then _you_ have to stop annoying me for the rest of your eternity…"

"And if I win?"

I chuckled, because the thought of Damon winning over me only made me want to win so much more. I was a very stubborn girl and could get pretty competitive. I leaned closer to Damon, so close that our lips were only inches from touching, and smirked smugly.

"If you win, then…" I licked my lips, quickly thinking of something I knew he wanted, but what I didn't want him to have. "… then I, Rhianna Magdalena De Sauveterre, will sleep with you."

Damon's smirk grew wider, but he shook my hand on that and we started slurping down one shot after another. A few people started gathering around us as we did and watched us get more and more drunk.

I stayed focused, though, and kept drinking, until the bartender had to fetch a new bottle of tequila. And when we got to what felt like the 20th or 30th drink, I could barely move, while Damon still looked focused. I refused to let him win, so I raised the glass to my mouth, opened my mouth, and…

Everything went black.

I seriously needed to stop passing out and especially, when I was in the middle of– Um… what was it again I was doing? I couldn't remember and it scared me. I remembered that I went to my dad's place and talked with him, but everything that happened after that was a blur. I tried opening my eyes and woke up in a place I'd never seen before. I felt like I was drunk and therefore, I stayed where I was.

I looked confusedly around and tried putting the pieces together of what happened after I left my dad's place. I remembered something about a note Damon left and… oh my god. I quickly looked down at my body and saw that my clothes had been removed except for my underwear. I knew that Damon hadn't raped me, because if he had I would feel sore certain places.

Where was Damon anyway?

I looked around again and saw that I was laying in a bed and next to me was a sleeping Damon, wearing nothing except his black boxer shorts. I was tempted to touch his bare, muscular chest that looked completely smooth and hair-free like the chest of a male model. I shook my head and just went back to sleep.

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	14. Walking On Air

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the quick reviews and the faves and alerts! :D**

**Here's chapter 14 as promised ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 14:

My head felt like it had been hit by a baseball bat when I woke up in the morning. I opened my eyes carefully and winced at the sharp light coming through the window. It took a few minutes for me to get used to the morning light, but when my sight became clear, I saw that I was lying very closely to Damon. I'd been resting my head on his shoulder with his arm wrapped protectively around me and held on to him as if I'd been afraid that he might leave me.

It was strange to lie so close to him and to be able to listen to his calm heartbeat, but it only pained me more than I already was. I really was in love with him and the more time I spend with him, the harder it was for me not to give in to him.

I tried sneaking out of his embrace, but he woke up and held his arm tightly around me. I looked up at him and before I could say anything, he leaned down to me and pressed his lips against mine. I was stunned this time and didn't kiss him back. I pulled away and tried keeping my tears inside. This was so unfair. The vampire I was in love with was in love with one of my friends and she was in love with his brother. It was all so messed up and utterly unfair.

"We need to get home," I said softly, but Damon kissed me again as a reply. "Damon, don't–"

"Why are you so persistent about giving me a chance?" he asked quietly and smirked playfully.

"Because, Damon!" I answered and sat up. "You're in love with–"

I was interrupted by the sound of my cell phone ringing and sighed heavily. I stepped out of the motel bed and saw that Elena was calling.

Great.

My competition was calling and probably wanted to know when we were coming back. I stared at the phone and let it ring without knowing why. I just couldn't get myself to answer it, so Damon took it from me and threw it aside, then pushed me back down onto the bed and kissed me passionately.

"Rhia…" he said, sounding slightly frustrated. "I know that you think that I'm just using you, but… I'm not. I can't stop thinking about you and it annoys me so much, because I… I used to love Elena because I knew that I couldn't lose her. I knew that Stefan or everyone else would protect her. I lost Katherine, I lost Rose, and I don't want to lose you too. You're so… incredible."

I giggled softly and gently stroked his cheek. "Is that your slightly confusing way of telling me that you're in love with me?" I asked teasingly.

Damon smirked and nodded, then leaned down to kiss me again. I kissed him back this time and it felt so incredible. The touch of his soft lips on mine sent a tingling sensation through my body and made me breathe heavily. There was no way for me to express in words how wonderful this kiss was. It was like… like walking on air and I didn't want to let go of the feeling.

However, just because I survived drinking as much as I did last night, then it didn't mean that I didn't avoid getting nauseous. I quickly pushed Damon off me and ran to the bathroom, feeling both my lunch and the drinks come up the same way they came in.

Damon laughed of me in the bedroom, so I flipped him off as good as I could without leaving the toilet. After washing the nasty taste out of my mouth, I went back to him and found him standing at the bed in his boxer shorts and looking ridiculous hot like always.

"That is so not fair," I said, crossing my arms and making Damon smile in a pervy way. I noticed that he was staring at me and quickly covered my body. "Stop staring, you perv!"

"Aww, but _that_ is so not fair either," Damon said and walked up to me. I tried slipping past him, but he pinned me against the wall and kissed me on my neck. I jumped up on him and locked my legs around his waist, letting him hold me up as we kissed passionately again. Damon didn't seem to mind that I'd just thrown up, but he didn't exactly taste good either. "We should really brush our teeth."

I nodded in agreement and after getting dressed, Damon quickly went to a local convenient shop nearby and bought two toothbrushes and toothpaste. We brushed our teeth together and goofed around, but we eventually got back in to Damon's car and headed back to Mystic Falls. I was still hung-over and nauseous, but Damon was able to take my mind off it and kissed the back of my hand every time he noticed that I looked nauseous, which was quite a lot (!)

I wasn't completely sure of if Damon told the truth when he said that he was in love with me, but he seemed honest and so did his kisses. But just in case he was tricking me, then I was going to take things slow and let him wait. You could tell a lot by how long a guy was willing to wait to get laid.

"You still owe me tips, Damon." I said and suddenly remembered something.

I had to go to work today. That was just… _perfect_. At least it was Thursday, so it wouldn't be long until I'd survived my first crazy week here in Mystic Falls.

"And I won the bet, so you also owe me something." Damon said, touching me playfully on my thigh.

I rolled my eyes and removed his hand. "Damon, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but if you haven't already noticed it, then I don't let any boy even kiss me."

"God, do you have to be so serious? I seriously think that you're more–"

"Choose your words wisely, vamp!"

Damon chuckled, parked his car, and leaned in to kiss me. "Just don't become as boring as Saint Stefan, ok?"

I nodded understandingly and pulled him in for another kiss. It lasted for a few minutes, until Damon suddenly pulled away and stepped out, because Stefan and Elena stepped out of the boarding house with a worried expression on their faces. I wondered why they were so worried, but then I remembered that Elena and Stefan knew how much I disliked Damon and blushed.

"I'm really wondering how it's possible that you two survived spending a whole day together," Elena said teasingly, making me blush even more. "Did you meet your father?"

I nodded. "It went surprisingly well and hopefully he'll let me borrow his Ferrari some time," I said and was distracted by the sight of Damon walking inside with the box. "God, my head hurts…"

Elena and Stefan looked confusedly at me, so I shrugged and went inside to Damon, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek before I turned my attention to the box. It was covered in dust and smelled old, but we took our chances and opened it anyway, revealing books, ingredients, magical jewelries, and other weird stuff I wasn't sure of what was.

"Mm… lovely. Dust, spiders, and old, smelly things…" Damon said dryly and took a random book up.

A nasty black spider hung from it with its web, so he flicked it off and then opened it. I blew the dust away and recognized the handwriting on the pages as my mom's. It looked like her diary. Damon turned to the last page and read aloud.

"April 13, 1994: _Klaus contacted me today. He found my apartment and worst of all, my little baby girl. I didn't know what to do and feared that he would kill Rhia. He said that he needed my help or else he would kill Rhia and everyone else I loved. I…_ Oh."

"Oh, what?" I asked worriedly, grabbing the book from Damon. "_I couldn't let him take Rhia, so I told him that I would help him. I didn't want to do this, but I had to. For Rhia's sake. I know that someday you will find this diary. You're just as curious as your father is. I know that you might not understand why I am choosing to leave you at the orphanage, but hopefully you will in the future when you're older. Until then I want you to understand why you were born with powers and why certain creatures are after you. I'll send you all my things to your father and he has promised to do whatever he can to help you too…_"

"So Klaus has your mom?" Elena asked worriedly.

I nodded and felt like crying. I couldn't believe that… that monster had my mom. Maybe she was already dead? Or maybe he was planning to kill her when he'd gotten what he wanted?

"Rhianna, don't worry," Stefan said. "We'll get her back. I promise."

Yeah, if she wasn't already dead…

I put the book back down in the box and left the house. This was all so very frustrating. I wanted to save my mom, but I couldn't do that without… Elijah. I still didn't trust him, because he _knew_ this and didn't tell me anything – all because he made some stupid promise of someone. I knew that he couldn't have promised it to my mom, because she clearly wanted me to know everything. So who was it he had made the promise too?

"Rhia," Damon said, walking outside to me and slipping his hands around me. "We _will_ get your mom back. Without Elijah's help."

"That's easier said than done!" I snapped, immediately regretting doing so. I took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Damon. I know that you're just trying to help me, but… I need to get home and take a shower and then I have to–"

Damon interrupted me with a deep and passionate kiss and this time he didn't mind that anyone was staring. I didn't either. I wanted to relax for a moment, so I slipped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. I had to stand on my tiptoes, because he was a half head taller than me. It felt nice, though, and very, very… relaxing.

"I knew it! Didn't I say that they would fall for each other?" I heard Caroline say.

Damon and I both groaned loudly and parted. "To my defense then Damon got me way drunk last night, so I'm having trouble thinking properly." I said.

"Oh, is that so?" Damon scoffed.

"Yup, and now if you would excuse me, then I have to get home, so I can get ready to work. It's not _everyone_ who can use compulsion and get whatever they want."

Damon rolled his eyes of me and went back inside, while I went to Caroline and got a ride home of her. She wanted to hear all the dirty details of mytrip with Damon last night even though she wasn't that fond of the idea of me dating Damon. She used to date him while she was still human and he treated her like crap. I didn't need to hear that, but I was definitely going to bring the subject up later.

However, when I got back to my home, I saw that the whole house was trashed inside and my things were scattered all over the place. Someone had been here while I was gone and been looking for something or maybe even me.

"Oh my God…" Caroline murmured as we tried walking through the house.

I quickly hurried upstairs to my bedroom and saw that my bedroom was a total disaster. It looked like a tornado had swept through the whole house and I feared that they would come back, so I grabbed all the clothes that wasn't ruined, took some of my personal belongings, and…

"They took my notebook! Car, they took my notebook!" I said frantically, feeling my breath become heavier.

"What was in your notebook?" Caroline asked worriedly.

"Spells, addresses, phone numbers, stories, and… well, basically my whole life was in that book. They know where I live and they'll find me soon! I can't stay here, Car. I need to get away!" I cried.

Caroline didn't hesitate to help me with my things and headed right back to the boarding house.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	15. The Tear Of Raziel

**A/N: Hii, this chapter is dedicated to my budgie Lulu who sadly died today. R.I.P. Lulu!**

**I'm not sure if I'm going to update again today, but we'll see...**

**Enjoy! **

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 15:

Much to my boss's dismay, I chose to quit my job. I was too scared to go to work and knew that I had to focus solely on this after what had just happened. But I was too shocked with what I saw in my house to even go inside the warm and secure boarding house. I just sat outside the front door and stared at my cell phone. Any minute the man, who was after me, could call me or his henchmen could be at my friends' homes and be hurting them or their family.

"Rhianna."

The voice was familiar and the way he said my name made my heart melt a bit. I didn't look at him, though, but just looked up at the road and tightened my grip around my cell phone. Damon sat down next to me with a cup of warm tea and handed the cup to me. I thanked him and sighed.

"_This_ is why I tried staying out of Elijah's businesses," I said quietly, but loud enough for Damon to hear it. "I just wanted a somewhat normal life, to finish high school, and then go traveling in Europe."

"Europe? And what are you planning to do after that?" Damon asked curiously.

I wondered if Damon was just being curious or if he was trying to take my mind of what had happened to my house. If it was the last one, then I was very grateful for it. I needed to think of something else and Damon didn't know that much about me anyway.

"Go to college and maybe study English literature. I like to read and write stories." I said.

Damon smirked. "You mean _erotic _stories?"

I blushed. "No… It's stories about magic, love, mysteries, and stuff like that. I once wrote about a vampire girl, who fell in love with a werewolf and their own kinds weren't that pleased with them being in love."

He snorted. "Yeah, of course they weren't! Vampires and werewolves are sworn enemies and I'm having a very hard time understanding how a vampire can fall for a werewolf!"

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my tea. It tasted slightly of vervain, but that was a good thing. I did wear a bracelet with vervain, but in case it somehow fell off, then I still had vervain in my system and couldn't be compelled.

"Yeah, well it's just a story and I'll never be done with it, because the men who broke inside my home destroyed my memory stick. I also lost a couple of other stories, but the ideas are still in that notebook they stole."

Damon sighed now because just like that my mind had drifted back to what happened today. I sighed too and the more I thought about how trashed my home was, the more frustrated I became. I closed my eyes and tried thinking of something entirely else like… how Damon and I lost to Damon in a drinking game last night. I was so going to force him to a rematch (!)

"Was I even close of winning last night?" I asked, making Damon frown but then smirk again.

"Nope, not at all! But I must say that I was very impressed with how stubborn you were, until you passed out…" Damon answered and chuckled. "You want to know what you said when I carried you to the motel?"

I shook my head, feeling more than just worried of what I might have said to him. "I rather not…"

"Oh, but you should really hear it. You said and I quote: _The day I sleep with you will be the day hell freezes over_."

I chuckled. Yeah, that sounded like me alright. I stood up and finally went inside with Damon. I really needed to change my clothes, take a bath, and get something to eat. Damon let me use his bathroom that had a beautiful and big standalone tub that I just had to try out. I needed to take a nice, long, and warm bath and the best way to do that was to take a proper bath.

After making sure that Damon wasn't hiding somewhere in his bedroom so he could see me naked, I stripped down and turned the warm water on. When the tub was filled up with steaming hot water and soap bubbles, I slid down into it and enjoyed the wonderful sensation.

"Well, you look like you're enjoying yourself…" I suddenly heard Damon say. My face became flushed and I instinctively covered my body with the soap bubbles when he walked closer to the bathtub. "Aw, don't cover yourself up for my sake!"

"Damon, I got one word for you," I scoffed. "Perv."

Damon chuckled. "Yeah, but deep inside you like it. No, you _enjoy_ it."

I snorted. "Yeah, sure! Just keep convincing yourself that, lover-boy!"

He laughed and walked back to his bathroom. I hadn't really been able to take a good look inside Damon's big-ass bedroom, but now I could. I saw two stacks of books next to his huge bed, doors that led outside to a balcony, long and beautiful beige colored curtains, and a big mirror as well. His bedroom was modern and simple, but it still had a touch of the 19th century.

"Damon." I said.

"Mmm?" said Damon, picking up a few knocked down books.

"You never told me anything about yourself. I mean… how was your life before and after Katherine Pierce turned you?"

Damon turned to me and frowned a tad, but he continued picking up the books as he said. "I was born and grew up in Mystic Falls with my parents and Stefan. My mom died when I was young, but my father never remarried after her death. His name was Giuseppe Salvatore..."

He seemed like he was remembering something that troubled him for a moment, but then he shook his head and sat down on his bed, looking at me with a smirk I knew all too well what meant.

"Are you going to let me see what you're hiding under the bubbles if I tell you that I fought in the Civil War?" he asked teasingly.

"Nope!" I answered and smiled flirtatiously. "But I might show you something if you tell me more about your life in the 19th century…"

Damon rolled his eyes now, but gave in. "Okay, um… There isn't that much interesting to tell about my life back when I was human, because I just lived an ordinary and very boring life, until I met Katherine in 1864 and she toyed with Stefan and me right up until she faked her death and left us to take care of ourselves. I spend the next 145 years trying to find a way to bring her back and found out that she wasn't trapped inside the tomb anyway. But all that doesn't matter now because I got you."

I blushed slightly and signed for Damon to come closer to me. He did and kneeled down at the bathtub. "That you do, but remember that we're taking things slow. I don't know if you're tricking me or really have fallen in love with me."

Damon leaned in and gave me a tender kiss that proved to me that he truly was in love with me. I closed my eyes, wrapped my arms around him, and kissed him back for a little while, until we were interrupted by the sound of my cell phone ringing. We both sighed, but Damon wanted me to answer it in case it was the man who was after me. I dried my hands with a towel and put the phone to my ear, feeling the pace of my heartbeat increase rapidly.

"Hello? Who is this?" I asked since the number was hidden.

"_That is a very good question, Rhianna…_" the caller said.

I froze because it was in fact my stalker, so Damon grabbed my phone and snarled: "Listen, you sick son of a bastard, unless you want us to rip your head off, then you better start telling us why you keep stalking Rhianna! What do you want from her?"

"_That is none of your concern, Mr. Salvatore. But unless you want to see Rhianna's father dead, then you better stay out of this and give the phone back to her_."

I gasped when I heard that and quickly yanked the phone back. "You have my father?" I asked, feeling the fear inside me grow.

"_No, not yet. But I know people who can easily go inside that nice condo of his and maybe make it look like he committed suicide. You don't want that now, do you?_"

I was on the verge of crying. I _never_ wanted to drag my dad into this, but now he too was in danger and it was all because of me.

"What do you want from me? Who are you anyway?" I asked, trying to sound brave.

The man chuckled as if he knew that I was terrified. "_Who I am is unimportant, but what you do need to know is that if you don't do as I say then I will kill everyone you love and care about, starting with your father. The first thing I need from you is particular piece of jewelry that I believe you have. It's a silver necklace with a blue sapphire and diamonds. I want you to meet me alone at the Mystic Grill tomorrow at 3:00. And don't even think about letting any of your friends come too, because I know who they are and where they live now that I got your little notebook._"

I looked at Damon, who seemed more than just pissed about this. "Fine, but I want you to tell me what you want the necklace for. Is it magical?"

"_I'll tell you that when you hand it over and I really must say, Rhianna, that I'm really looking forward to meet you in person._"

The man hung up and I handed Damon my cell phone back.

None of us said anything for a while because what could we say? The man was very clear about what he wanted and when he wanted it and if he didn't get what he wanted, then he was going to hurt everyone I loved and cared about.

Where the hell was Elijah when I needed him?

And who was this man anyway?

I quickly got out of the bathtub, wrapped a towel around me quicker than Damon could take a look, and went to the guestroom he and Stefan had let me stay in. I dried myself, got dressed, and went downstairs to look for the necklace. I did remember seeing a necklace in the box, but I wasn't sure if it was the right one or what it could do.

When I got downstairs and searched for the necklace, I found a book as well with information about all the things that were in the box. My mom had written much about it, but it was enough for me to know what it was able to do.

"_The Tear of Raziel (silver necklace w/ blue sapphire and diamonds) – Gives a witch or warlock the power to enter any persons mind, soul, and body. Must only be used at very special occasions if needed._"

"The Tear of Raziel… why would he need that?" Damon asked, taking the necklace from me.

I shrugged, but maybe this man was a warlock. I was going to find out very soon and maybe why he needed it. I just hoped that none of my friends would go to the grill anyway and mess everything up. And that warning was especially meant for Damon.

**Thanks for reading and please review! **


	16. Damien Lémieux

**A/N: Hii, yeah I wrote another chapter. It helps a bit to write when you've just lost a beloved pet :)**

**If you want me to update again today, then give me at least 5 reviews the next 3-4 hours**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 16:

The grill was filled with teens, a few adults, and a couple of children with their parents or older siblings when I got there. I looked around in the grill and saw that Alaric Saltzman was here too. I hadn't mentioned him in my notebook at all or spend time with him outside school time, so he was going undercover and making sure that nothing happened to me.

Damon had been very much against me going to the grill alone, but I reminded him that the man couldn't do anything to me when we were in a public place. I guessed that the man was thinking that I would do something too and that it was maybe why he had chosen this place.

It was very frightening for me to do this alone, because I didn't know who he was or _what_ he was. I just knew that he was dangerous and could hurt my dad if he wanted to.

Before I went to the grill, I called my dad to make sure that he was alive and told him about the man. He wasn't too happy to hear that I was being stalked by a mysterious man, but he told me that he would arm himself with the weapons he had. He didn't only have normal weapons, but also weapons that could kill a vampire.

"Rhianna Magdalena De Sauveterre…" I heard someone say behind me.

I turned around and faced a surprisingly young man in his early twenties with dirty-blond hair, pale green eyes, and the most dazzling smile that could make a girl's heart melt. It was first now that I recognized the slight accent he had. He was French, but it seemed that he had lived here for a long time. If he hadn't said my last name so perfectly then I wouldn't have known he was French.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

He took my hand and kissed the back of it, never taking his eyes off mine. I felt my cheeks blush, but I knew that he wasn't a vampire because he was wearing a necklace with vervain, so I didn't have to fear that he could hear how fast my heart was beating right now.

But I could sense that he was a very powerful warlock, so I didn't exactly calm down and feared that he wanted to use The Tear of Raziel to hurt his enemies or innocent people.

"Such magnificent power in such a young girl," he said and smiled in a disturbing, but slightly alluring way. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Damien Lémieux."

Damien Lémieux? Why did that name sound so familiar? I was about to ask him of something, but he led me to a free table and ordered something to eat. He seemed very relaxed and not at all in a hurry, so I took a deep breath and tried relaxing too. There was no reason to be on high alert right now.

"How do you know about my parents and what I am?" I asked, while we waited for our dinner.

Damien smiled and reached for my hand, but I quickly crossed my arms and glared icily at him, which only made him chuckle and lean back in his seat.

"My family knows yours," he said. "You see, my ancestors met yours in France in 1744 and have been working together on several occasions. I heard that your mom was kidnapped by Klaus and would like to help you get her back _if _you of course also help me with something."

"You want The Tear of Raziel in return." I stated.

Damien nodded. "But that is not all I want. However, we'll talk about that later. Right now we should eat and get to know each other properly."

I looked weirdly at him, but the dinner came and I was starving anyway. I felt my cell phone vibrate, though, and Damien noticed that. He signed for me to read the message, so I did and my eyes widened when I saw what it said.

_From: Damon_

_Caroline got kidnapped by Jules, so be careful with HIM._

Oh, no… no, no, no, no! I couldn't stay here when one of my friends were in danger.

"Is something wrong?" Damien asked.

I nodded. "My friend Caroline got kidnapped by a werewolf named Jules. I got to save her!" I said and tried leaving, but he grabbed my arm and yanked me back down.

"Your friends will save her. _You_ are staying here," he said firmly. "And if your friends fail to save her, then I'll send my men to save her."

I sighed heavily and put my cell phone back down in my pocket. I couldn't enjoy my dinner when I knew that Caroline was in danger.

"I noticed that you like to read and write your own stories. I read one of them and… I really must admit that you're quite talented for a 17-year-old." Damien said, smiling charmingly.

"Thanks… I think," I said hesitantly and absently looked around in the grill. I noticed that a few other men and women besides Alaric were keeping an eye on me and guessed that they were Damien's henchmen. Of course he had brought them with him…

"Rhianna, I know that you're angry with me for trashing your home, but I never intended to scare you. The truth is that I really like you and I would love to invite you out sometime."

"What?" I looked confusedly at him, but after a few minutes I understood what he meant. "You're… in love with me?"

Damien smiled and took my hand in his, making my heart pound furiously. Icouldn't take my eyes off him and felt this strange connection. I didn't know if it was because we were both powerful or witches, but I definitely felt drawn to him.

"We don't have to fight each other, Rhia. Especially not when we have so much in common," he said. "I was told from an early age by a fortune teller that you're my perfect fit. My soul mate. And I'm not leaving this town before I've won your love, _ma chérie._"

That was just… great. A crazy, stalking warlock was in love with me and probably wanted me to sleep with him if he had to help me save my mom.

"Damien, I'm not looking for a boyfriend," I said firmly. "I already have one and–"

"He's a vampire. You can't trust vampires. It's vampires like Damon that kidnapped your mother and who forces people like us to do their dirty work."

I sighed heavily. It was almost impossible to get through to this guy and I was really starting to regret coming here in the first place.

"If you really do love me, then you wouldn't force me to do all these things. Love is about respect, compassion, and trust, and we don't feel any of that to each other. I certainly do not."

Damien chuckled softly. "You soon will, Rhia. I promise you that."

I rolled my eyes, but Damien just took my hand and kissed it again. It sent a tingling sensation through my body and I wondered if what he said about me being his soul mate was true.

"What do you want The Tear of Raziel for anyway?" I asked to change the subject.

"Many things, but mostly to get my revenge on Klaus and the other Originals that have plagued us witches and warlocks. And as I said before, then we don't have to fight each other. We're after the same thing. Well, almost the same thing," Damien answered. "Did you bring the necklace with you?"

I nodded and took it out of my pocket. Damien didn't even touch it, though, but simply nodded understandingly.

"Didn't you want it?"

He nodded. "But not now. I do advice you to keep it to yourself, though. Other warlocks or witches might want it too. I only wanted to meet you today and let you know how I feel about you. My offer of helping you finding your mother still stands, so do give me a call when you've made your choice."

Damien handed me his number and after spending an hour or so with him, talking with him about our interests, hobbies, and magic, he finally left the grill. I tried calling Damon after he'd left, but he didn't answer his phone which only made me so much more worried. I didn't know if they'd saved Caroline yet or even where Jules was keeping her, but there _was_ something I could do.

I sent a text to Elijah, telling him about what had happened to Caroline.

And after doing so, I headed back to the boarding house to get something important. I didn't stay in the boarding house for long, but quickly grabbed the thing I was looking for and then headed to my dad's home. I couldn't let Damien put him in danger again and needed to protect him properly.

That was why I went to his home and handed him a ring that protected humans from being killed by supernatural beings. My dad seemed more worried about me, though, and wanted me to be careful.

I went back to Mystic Falls after making sure that my dad was now safe and during my trip back I got a message from Elena saying that Caroline was okay. She asked me if I could come to Caroline's home, because Caroline had been tortured by Jules and her werewolf friends and needed our support.

Therefore, I drove to Caroline's home and knocked on the door, anxious to see how she was. I felt so bad about not being able to save her, but at least she was alive. Elena was the one who let me in and she told me about how Damon and Stefan went to rescue Caroline. She also told me that Dr. Martin helped them save her, because Elijah wanted to show that he kept his part of the deal.

"Did you find out who the stalker is?" Bonnie asked, joining us at the entrance.

I nodded. "His name is Damien Lémieux. He's a warlock and a very powerful one, but don't worry about me right now. How is Caroline?" I said worriedly.

They both shrugged, so I went in to the living room and hugged Caroline, who was sobbing on the couch. She thanked me for coming and we all ended up sitting together in the living room and watching Caroline's favorite movie, which was sadly _Twilight_.

I tried not to think about my "date" with Damien today and thought about what he said about him being able to help me save my mom. I didn't know if I could trust him, but a part of me wanted to because if I didn't then he would hurt the ones I loved and cared about.

The movie night went well, though, and was able to take my mind off my problems and worries. We all slept closely in Caroline's bed and in the middle of the night, I was visited by no other than Damon who of course couldn't stay out of my mind. In my dream we were sitting opposite each other in his bathtub and the only thing that covered our bodies were the soap bubbles.

"_Perv_," I said, making Damon chuckle and lean closer to me. I could feel his hands on my shoulders and shivered slightly by the wonderful feeling of his touch. "_Thank you for saving Caroline. She told me about what happened to her and… I can't believe that I couldn't help you save her._"

Damon sighed weakly and gave me a tender kiss that made my heart melt. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed myself closer to him, ignoring the fact that I was completely naked.

"_Don't worry about that and as for your meeting with that creepy stalker then we'll talk about it tomorrow. Tonight you're all mine_…" Damon said, smirking teasingly.

**Thanks for reading and please review! **


	17. Important Things

**A/N: Yup, I made another chappie for ya and it's extra long ;)**

**Thanks for the reviews and please enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 17:

Saturday morning I was awaken by the sound of a cell phone ringing and a loud _thump_ as if someone had fallen down on the floor. I sat up and looked at Elena, who crawled out of the room and answered the cell phone and rubbed my tired eyes.

Bonnie and Caroline were still asleep, but Caroline woke up when my cell phone began vibrating on the nightstand. She muttered something that sounded like a curse, so I grabbed my phone and walked past Elena out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. I'd received another text message from Damon and a sweet one this time.

_From: Damon_

_Look out of window & blow me a kiss_

I smiled, went to the window, and saw Damon standing outside at the driveway, smirking at me. I giggled and blew him a kiss, then went outside to him in my sleeping shorts and top, and gave him a proper kiss. The kisses felt much better when I was awake and I had a hard time letting go of him. I wasn't used to kiss a guy, who was now my first boyfriend, but it felt wonderful and I didn't think that I could grow tired of the feeling.

"Someone is in a good mood today…" Damon said teasingly and cupped my face in his hands. His hands felt so warm against my cold skin. "Did you sleep well?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, I had a pretty good dream actually. I dreamt that I made out with Jensen Ackles from Supernatural." I teased.

Damon grimaced, which only made me chuckle more. "Yeah, well Jensen Ackles has a stupid first name and is just some actor. Not an eternal stud like me."

I patted his shoulder. "Of course you are, Damon… of course. Now why are you here so early?"

"I'm going to a party at the Lockwoods and I wondered if you wanted to be my date."

"Sure! I don't have anything else to do today anyway. Just give me a sec to get dressed."

Damon went back in to his car, while I went back inside and got dressed. Elena told me that she and Stefan were going to her family's old lake house together and Caroline and Bonnie were going to the grill later today, so it was a good thing Damon asked me out.

I figured that it was one of those fancy parties we were going to since we were going to the major's home and pulled on a beautiful dark blue and black cocktail party dress made of chiffon that I borrowed from Caroline. Bonnie and Caroline helped me with the makeup and curled my hair slightly, so it didn't look like I just woke up.

However, by the time I got my black ballerina flats on and left the house, Damon was almost falling asleep because I'd kept him waiting for almost half an hour or more. I blushed and quickly got inside his car. He took one look at me and grinned.

"I thought you said I only had to wait for a sec. Not an hour!" he said teasingly.

"Hey, it's your own fault! You could have called me a lot earlier and told me about the party, because then I would be–"

Damon interrupted me with a kiss and I automatically kissed him back, completely forgetting what I was about to say. He moved back and licked my lipgloss off his lips.

"Mm… strawberries!" he teased and then finally took off.

I was right about my guess, though, because when we got to the party and entered the Lockwood mansion, I could hear the sound of classical music, people were merely talking with each other and having a cup of tea, and already when I stepped inside I wanted to yawn out of boredom.

"This isn't a party," I said quietly to Damon. "It's a tedious and snobbish get-together. You've tricked me, Mr. Salvatore!"

Damon chuckled and walked with me; until we came to a room where he spotted someone he knew and suddenly turned me around.

"Why don't you go on a hunt for a beer or something?" he asked.

I looked weirdly at him and tried seeing who was in the room that he wanted to talk with, but he got in front of me and blocked my view.

"But that would be like finding a needle in a haystack!" I complained.

"Good luck then!"

I flipped him off, but walked away and went looking for something stronger to drink other than lemon tea. As much as I liked tea, then I rather wanted something that could pep me up. I was still kindda tired and since I hated coffee, then I had to go for the next best thing. I found the kitchen, but I only found milk and grape juice inside the fridge.

I groaned and went back towards the room Damon had gone to, but he was there. I did find Alaric, though, and he was talking with a man that I assumed was Elena's very pesky biological father. He wanted something back from Alaric and seemed like he was bothering him, so I walked up to them, hoping that I could save Alaric from having to talk with John Gilbert for any longer.

"Um, Rick have you seen Damon? I can't seem to find him…" I said, making both of them turn to me and John frown because of some odd reason.

"You're Rhianna Smith. Elena's friend, right?" he asked curiously.

I nodded. "And you're John Gilbert. Nice to meet you."

He smiled weakly. "You too. You're also Victoria Lovelace's daughter, aren't you? You must be because you look just like her."

He knew my mom's last name? I nodded hesitantly and had to ask. "How do you know her?"

"We went to school together and we dated until she fell for your father. He was a very good man."

And he knew my father too. Great. I didn't know if I should look at it as good or bad thing, because technically I was still Elijah's adoptive daughter. I looked around for Damon again and saw Elijah come out of an office. I left John and Alaric without saying a word and quickly stopped Elijah before he could leave the party. I needed to talk with him and tell him about Damien.

"Rhianna, what are you doing here?" Elijah asked curiously.

"I… I came with Damon. But, Elijah, I really need to talk with you. Is there somewhere where we can talk alone?" I answered.

He nodded and took me upstairs to the study late major's study room. I noticed that Elijah had blood residue on his hands and wondered if something had happened in the office. I had other and more important questions, though, and ignored what I saw.

"I've met and talked with my dad. He lives only one and a half hour away from here and… he gave me my mom's old stuff, so thank you for that," I said calmly. "But a few days ago our-well, _my_ home was trashed by someone and they took my notebook. Later that day my stalker called me and he wanted to meet me. He told me to bring The Tear of Raziel with me. I did that and found out who he was. His name is–"

"Damien Lémieux," Elijah interjected. "I know. His and your family goes way back."

I groaned. "And you didn't care to tell me that sooner… why?"

"I only found out that he was in town yesterday. Luka saw you talk with him…"

"Oh… well, he said that he could help me save my mom if I helped him get his revenge on… Klaus and the other Originals, which would be you."

"And?" Elijah didn't sound worried the least.

"_And_… he said that he was in love with me, but I rejected him because I'm together with–"

"Damon Salvatore."

I nodded and found it a little irritating that he already knew all that and didn't seem to care at all. It was as if he didn't care about me anymore and it hurt. Elijah seemed to notice that he'd hurt my feelings and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry, Rhia, but I have much more important things to worry about than Mr. Lémieux. It won't be long until Klaus will arrive in Mystic Falls and I need to prepare myself for his arrival…" he said.

"So basically you're saying that you're not going to help me, because I'm not important to you right now. I'm only important when you have to use me for something," I said, feeling pissed off too now. Elijah opened his mouth to protest, but I was quicker than him. "You know I'm right, Elijah. You don't care about me at all. You only acted like you did, so I wouldn't leave you. I trusted you, but I don't anymore because you're more interested in keeping your stupid promise than to help me!"

I left the room before Elijah could stop me and ran right past Damon, who was looking for me in the den. He called my name, but I kept running with tears trickling down my cheeks. I didn't stop until I got to the car and Damon ran up to me with his super speed.

"Rhia! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked worriedly.

I opened my mouth to tell him about my conversation with Elijah, but the words wouldn't form in my mouth. I sighed and just shook my head. Damon pulled me into his embrace and let me cry on his shoulder.

I noticed that he had some blood on his neck, shirt, and hand and briefly wondered if he and Elijah had had a fall out with each other. Maybe that was why he didn't want me to go to that room. He knew that Elijah would be here, but even though I wanted to be angry with him for not telling me that, then I was more pissed at Elijah right now.

"Let's go home," Damon said, wiping the tears away from my cheeks. I didn't protest, but just got inside and left with him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you why we went there, but I thought it was time for me to meet Elijah face to face."

"It's okay… now I at least now that I can't trust him, but… what do we do about Damien?" I asked, forgetting that I hadn't even told Damon about Damien yet.

"Who?"

I sighed and began telling Damon about my meeting with my stalker aka Damien Lémieux. Of course Damon wasn't pleased to hear that my stalker was in love with me and a warlock, but he was happy that I didn't give The Tear of Raziel to him.

We eventually got home, though, and a few minutes later Alaric showed up too just as Damon was pouring up a drink for me that I strongly needed. He poured up a drink for Alaric too and I told Alaric that I was currently living here since my home was trashed. I also told him about my meeting with Damien and about what Damien wanted of me since he could only watch us from afar.

However, Damon suddenly had that _I-just-got-a-brilliant-idea_ look on his face and turned his gaze to me.

"Rhia, do you know how to kill an Original?" Damon asked, smirking mischievously when Alaric was about to leave.

"Yeah… but I'm not going to tell you," I answered. "As much as I hate Elijah, then I don't want to kill him. And if you do, then… then you're gonna have to find yourself a new girlfriend."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to kill Elijah. I just want to know if the myth about using a silver dagger with white oak ash really works."

"It does, but Damon–"

We suddenly heard a loud crash coming from the entrance and went to look what had happened. We found Alaric with a knife in his stomach and when Damon suddenly turned around some guy jumped down from nowhere and jumped on Damon.

I quickly rushed to aid Alaric, while Damon tried shaking the man on his back off him. He bumped into the wall three times before he was knocked down to the floor because of the vervain the man had injected into his neck. I moved my gaze back to the bleeding Alaric and saw that he was dead, but thanked to his ring he would soon come alive again.

"Get the hell away from him, you asshole!" I snarled and got up.

The man – a werewolf I realized – went to attack me too, but I narrowed my eyes at him and gave him a painful aneurism that sent him down on his knees. He screamed in pain, but suddenly he began laughing for some reason and I realized that he wasn't alone in here.

"Rhianna, get out of here, now!" Damon yelled groggily, but it was too late.

I saw a group of werewolves enter the house and the only woman among them – Jules I presumed – was armed with a shotgun with what I guessed was wooden bullets. She greeted Damon and then turned her gaze to me. I knew that I didn't have time to just stand there, so I narrowed my eyes at them and gave them an aneurism too, forcing them all down on their knees.

However, I completely forgot about the guy behind me and before I could stop him, he injected something in me that made me sleepy. I fought to stay awake, though, and tried setting them on fire instead, but I couldn't focus on them because my sight became blurry. I fell down to the floor too like a boneless ragdoll next to Damon, who was fighting to stay awake too.

I mouthed _I'm sorry_ to him, because I couldn't just leave them behind.

"If I remember correctly, then you're Elijah's pet," Jules said, but I didn't take my eyes away from Damon's sky blue ones. "We're going to have so much fun torturing you, Rhianna. Especially, since you're not only Elijah's pet, but apparently also Damon's bitch…"

**Thanks for reading and please review! **


	18. The Next Step

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews! :D **

**Here's an extra long chapter for ya ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 18:

By the time I finally woke up, I found feel that I'd been tied to a chair and I'd been blindfolded, so I couldn't hurt the werewolves. I tried using my other senses and could smell blood coming from somewhere nearby, which made me worry if they'd killed Damon too.

"Damon?" I called and suddenly felt an unfamiliar hand on my cheek.

"_Don't worry about him, sweetheart. He's a tad preoccupied right now, but I'm going to take real good care of you in the meantime,_" someone said. His fingers glided down to my lips, so I quickly bit his finger as hard as I could and made him balk. He became furious, though, and slapped me hard across my face. I could taste blood coming from my lip, but I tried staying calm. "_It's a good thing I like feisty girls or else you would be dead by now, you little–_"

"_What's the matter, wolf? Can't take that you were the one who got bitten this time?_" I heard Damon say smugly and could almost imagine that he was smirking right now.

I smiled, relieved to hear that he was okay. He sounded groggy, but at least he was alive. The man, who'd stood in front of me, went to Damon instead and did something that made Damon suppress a scream and laugh dryly. He was torturing him. The smile on my lips faded away and I closed my eyes, wishing hard for someone-no, just about _anyone_ to come and save us.

"_I have an idea…_" I heard Jules say playfully. "_Why don't we torture little Rhianna instead? Tha_t _should make Damon tell us where the moonstone is._"

The moonstone? So _that_ was what they were after? I cursed mentally and could hear Jules walk up to me with something sharp that she was prodding my revealed thigh with (such bad day to wear a dress!). But Damon wouldn't tell her where the moonstone was and even if he did, then they wouldn't be able to get it. Elijah had it if I remembered correctly.

"Just torture me away, you bitch! This day can't get any worse than it already is anyway!" I said and laughed smugly.

Jules snorted and stabbed me in my leg, making me cry out in pain. I could hear that Damon was trying to get out of what sounded like chains, but he couldn't. He could only watch me bleed and scream as Jules twisted the knife in my wound.

"_Not so cocky anymore, are we?_" she asked tauntingly and stopped twisting the knife. "_So Damon? Are you going to tell me where the stone is or should I just go ahead and cut her fingers off one by one?_"

"_I… wouldn't do that if I were you_…" I heard Elijah say somewhere in the room.

Oh, crap… Not exactly the guy I wanted to save me, but I guessed that it was better than nothing. I sat still and listened as Elijah killed the werewolves by what sounded to me like he was ripping their hearts out. I didn't hear him kill Jules, but I did hear him break someone's neck and remove the chains from Damon. He then walked up to me and removed the blindfold from my eyes. I looked around in the room and saw four dead werewolves, but no Jules.

"Here," Elijah said, biting his wrist open. "Drink my blood. You're bleeding heavily."

I refused to open my mouth and scowled at him instead. He sighed and turned to Damon who was sitting on a chair with a torture device around his neck. It was a collar with wooden nails that the werewolves had used to poke holes in his neck. He was completely soaked in his own blood at his neck and chest, while my right leg was still smeared in blood too. It made my nauseous to look at, but I didn't want Elijah's help. He'd lied to me and used me for his own purpose.

"Rhianna, I don't expect you to understand why I do what I do, but if you really wish to understand why I kept these secrets from you, then I suggest that you call your grandparents. Their number should be in your mother's diary." Elijah said before he left.

Damon removed the rest of the chains from himself and after untying me we got rid of the bodies and cleaned the mess up. He gave me some of his blood, so my wound would heal and I went to check if Alaric would soon wake up. Luckily, he did wake up, but it was when we were nearly done cleaning up. He called Jenna to apologize for not showing up to their date and while he did that, I went in to the kitchen to Damon, who was getting himself a glass of blood.

"I just talked with Bonnie…" Damon said. "Did you know that Elijah was planning to kill Elena all along? And that the sacrifice is part of his plan?"

I froze. I did know that and forgot to tell them. I didn't want to lie to Damon, so I nodded much to his surprise. He looked angrily at me as if he was going to kill me for not telling it.

"I'm sorry, Damon! I forgot all about it. But yes, he did tell me about his plan, but–"

"I can't believe you! How do you _forget_ telling something like that?" he hissed angrily.

Damon was pissed and didn't even want to hear my answer. He left the kitchen and went upstairs, leaving me alone in the kitchen. I curled up into a ball on the chair I was sitting on and sobbed quietly. I didn't understand why he was so mad at me. It wasn't my fault that I forgot it… right?

I sat on the chair for a few minutes and considered asking Damien for help, but I knew that I still couldn't trust him either, so I just went up to my bedroom, cleaned myself, and change to my pjs.

I was exhausted, my leg was sore, and I was worried that Damon might break up with me because of this. I never meant to mislead them or hide any information from them. I just… forgot. I'd been so busy with everything else that Elijah's plan just slipped out of my mind.

"It was very brave of you to let Jules torture you…" Damon suddenly said.

I looked up from the hem of my sleeping shorts that I'd been picking absently on and saw Damon standing at the doorway. I ignored him and crawled under the covers with my back turned to him.

But Damon didn't leave just yet. He walked up to my bed, removed all his clothes except his boxer shorts, and crawled under the covers with me. I felt his arms slip around me and he made my heart beat faster. I couldn't stop myself from smiling weakly at the feeling of him so close to me, but I couldn't make myself turn around and face him yet.

"I'm sorry, Rhia. I know you didn't hide it on purpose."

There it was. The apology that left me wanting to forgive him. I didn't turn around, though, but closed my eyes and waited. I wanted to see what Damon did if I kept ignoring him. He sighed heavily, sat up a bit, and started kissing me on the side of my neck and on my jaw line. The kisses sent a wonderful tingling sensation through my body and made my heartbeat faster than it had ever done before. He could hear this, because he chuckled softly into my neck.

"If you're able to forgive your very lonely dick of a boyfriend, then you're free to sleep in my bed," Damon said and stepped out of my bed. "I'll try to behave myself."

I waited for a few minutes to go to Damon's bedroom and thought about if it might be time for me to take the next step in our relationship. I wanted to, but… we hadn't exactly been together for long and I didn't want to give myself to Damon just because he was my first boyfriend. I did want to sleep in his bed, because it looked so comfortable and big.

I stepped out of my bed and went to Damon's bedroom, finding him already asleep. Or so it seemed like, but when I joined him under the covers, he turned to me and kissed me passionately.

"I knew you would come…" he said, making me giggle and shake my head of him. "I'm a very irresistible vampire and you know it."

"Yeah, but I actually only came because of your bed. I mean, it's huge!" I teased, wrapping my arms around his neck and locking my legs around his waist.

Damon chuckled and continued kissing me passionately the rest of the night. He couldn't stay mad at me and I couldn't keep ignoring him. I knew why that was. It was because of the prediction the tarot cards made. Damon was the one I would fall in love with and it seemed like we were going to stay together for a while. At least that was what I hoped we would…

"Rhianna?" Damon said when we finally went to sleep.

"Mmm?" I said, tugging myself closer to Damon.

"Were you serious about breaking up with me if I killed Elijah?"

I was silent. I wasn't sure to be honest. A part of me wished to see him dead, but another part still cared about him and knew that he was only acting like this because he had many problems on his mind. He had to protect Elena, everyone she loved and cared about, track down Klaus and prepare himself for the sacrifice, and then there was still that thing he needed me to do.

"I don't know, really," I ended up saying and opened my eyes. "But if you do, then I will most likely hate you for some time and I don't want to do that. Do you understand?"

Damon opened his too and looked me into my eyes. He nodded, kissed me on my forehead, and said goodnight. We both had a long day ahead of us tomorrow and I had many things to do. I had to find my grandparents' number and call them, so I could finally find out why Elijah was keeping secrets from me. I knew that he made a promise, but to whom? And why?

Those two questions were on my mind in the morning when I woke up and went downstairs alone to make breakfast for the two of us, while Damon showered and shaved. I looked for the phone number while making our breakfast and had to read about all kinds of things like about my mom's first kiss with a boy named Michael, who turned out to be a douche bag, and about the first time my mom ever laid eyes on my dad.

Some of it was very romantic, sweet, and innocent, but there were a couple of pages I wished I hadn't read. I did find out that my grandmother was a witch and my grandfather was a warlock. My mom's parents were very strict and wanted so much from her because of the fact that they didn't have a lot of money and both of her parents had to work two jobs to take care of her and her three other siblings.

I eventually found their phone number and called them when I was done making breakfast. Damon was talking with Stefan in his bedroom anyway, so I had some privacy.

"_Hello?_" I heard a slightly old woman say.

I froze for a moment by the sound of my grandmother's voice, but took a deep breath and tried remaining calm.

"Hi, my name is… Rhianna," I said, but she didn't seem to recognize my voice or my name, which meant that either she just didn't know it, was me or else my mom never told her that she had a daughter named Rhianna. "Are you… Magdalena Lovelace?"

"_Yes, I am. You sound… familiar. Have we met before, sweetheart?_"

I smiled a little at what she called me and took another deep breath to say what I was about to say next. "Yes, or no I don't think so. But you're my… grandmother. I'm Victoria's daughter."

My grandmother gasped and mumbled something that sounded like _Oh, Lord_! I wondered if it was a bad idea to call her, but I had to do it. I needed to know.

"_You're really little Rhia? You sound so… grown,_" my grandmother chuckled softly. It was nice to hear her laughter, because she was the closest thing I got to my mom. "_How old are you, dear?_"

"17," I sat down at the kitchen table and watched Damon pour up some blood from the hospital in a cup. "I… I was wondering if I could maybe talk with you about my parents. It's really important."

My grandmother sighed and I heard a muffled voice in the background that sounded like an older man's voice. My grandfather, perhaps?

"_Well, if it's important then you better come visit us. Are you in Mystic Falls now?_" she asked.

"Yes, I can come over now if you have time." I answered.

She told me her address and I found out that she lived in Charlottesville. I told her that I was on my way, hung up, and then turned to Damon.

"I'm going to visit my grandparents in Charlottesville… You want to come?" I asked.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. I _am _a vampire and your grandparents _are_ witches," Damon answered. He was right, so I had to go by myself. "But you shouldn't go alone."

"No, it's ok. I can handle myself and if something happens, then I still have my ring."

Damon didn't seem too happy about that, but he didn't bicker with me. I ate my breakfast, grabbed a few of my mom's belongings that I wanted to talk with them about, and kissed Damon goodbye before I left.

During the whole trip I was on the verge of freaking out. I was actually going to meet my grandparents and maybe I could get to meet my uncles and aunts too.

Even though I did get lost a couple of times and had to ask for directions about four times, then I eventually found my grandparents' home and saw a young girl with auburn hair that sat with her twin sister on the porch. They must be my cousins and they definitely looked a tad like me. When I got out of the car and walked up to them, they quickly called for their grandmother who was inside the old house. I wondered when my grandparents moved to Charlottesville and why.

"Rhianna! I'm so glad you made it!" a familiar 50-year-old looking woman said cheerfully. She hugged me tightly and I tried hard not to cry. "Oh, Lily! Rose! I would like to introduce you to your cousin. This is Rhianna, your Aunt Victoria's daughter."

My grandmother introduced me to the two 8-year-old girls and they hugged me tightly too. I smiled and went inside with them where I saw my grandfather as well, sitting in his armchair and reading the newspaper like most grandfathers did. I couldn't help but giggle a bit and I must have sounded like my mom, because he suddenly looked up and instinctively said "Victoria".

"Hi…" I said shyly and saw his smile widen a bit. He got up and hugged me too and this time I cried.

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	19. The Sixth Doppelganger

**A/N: Hii, sorry for the short chapter!**

**Thanks for the reviews and enjoy! ;)**

**Btw, another chap might be up later today**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 19:

"I assume you're here because of Elijah?" my grandmother guessed.

I nodded, slightly surprised that they knew who Elijah was. "We... We've had a fall out. I became mad at him because he wouldn't tell me why he adopted me and it felt like he only adopted me because he wanted to use me to kill his brother." I said.

My grandmother nodded understandingly and handed me a cup of tea. I thanked her and took a look around in the house. It looked like any other house, but on their bookshelves they had a dozen of grimoires and other old books about magic.

"That's because we told him not to tell you anything," my grandfather – Michael – said. I frowned and put my tea cup down. "We thought it was for the better if you stayed out as much as possible of Elijah's business. He might be a friend of ours, but he's still an Original and a vampire. We don't particularly trust vampires."

"So it was _you_? You told him to adopt me? Why didn't you just take care of me?" asked I, feeling slightly pissed off now.

"Because… we were afraid that Klaus might seek us up too like he found your mother. After your mother became pregnant, we… well, we weren't that pleased about it and Victoria didn't want anything to do with us," my grandmother said. "We wanted you to have a normal life and spare you from the faith that was intended on you."

"Which faith?" I was starting to become worried now.

My grandmother stood up and went to one of the bookshelves. She took out an old book, turned the pages, and then handed it to me.

I read what the page said and my eyes widened. It was a story or legend about how Klaus was cursed a witch he fell in love with. She made his werewolf side dormant and said that he would stay like this, until a doppelganger of the girl that was sacrificed to curse him would be born.

Klaus became pretty much pissed about that and swore that he would kill every one of the witch's own doppelgangers and that he had done about five times. It wasn't until I saw a sketch of the fifth doppelganger that died in 1855 that I realized which faith they were talking about.

"I'm… the sixth doppelganger?" I asked hesitantly.

They both nodded. "We could sense it already when your mother was pregnant with you…" my grandmother said softly. "You and your mother look so very much alike. Klaus thought that she was the doppelganger and took her instead, but when he sees you he'll know the truth. That's why we told Elijah to protect you. He's been trying to protect the other doppelgangers, but Klaus always found and killed them when they wouldn't help him break the curse."

I wasn't sure how to feel about this. It was one thing that I was the descendant of the witch who actually cursed Klaus, but it was another thing that I looked exactly like her. Now I at least knew why Elijah kept all those secrets from me. He was just trying to protect me and did care about me. I felt so bad about being mad at him now and wanted to apologize.

"And what about Damien Lémieux? Can I trust him?" I asked worriedly.

"Lémieux? You've met them?" my grandfather asked, sounding displeased.

I nodded. "Damien has been stalking me ever since I came to Mystic Falls with Elijah. He threatened to kill the ones I loved and cared about, trashed our home, and then he wanted to meet me. I met him and he said that he was in love with me. He also showed interest in one of my mom's necklace – The Tear of Raziel – and offered to help me get my mom back."

"Rhianna, you can't trust that boy. He and his family have always been trying to marry into our family to get more power and become the strongest witches in the world. They _only_ marry witches and hate normal humans or _mundanes_ as they call them," my grandfather said. "It's for the best if you stay away from him. Elijah will protect the ones you love and care about, but do _not_ trust him."

I nodded understandingly and suddenly felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. Damon was calling me. I told my grandparents to wait for a moment and went in to the kitchen.

"Yes, I am alright and I'm at my grandparents place right now." I said before Damon could say anything.

Damon chuckled softly. "_That's not why I called, but I'm glad to hear that,_" he said. "_I called you because I was going to ask how long you were going to stay at your grandparents' home._"

"Oh… um… well, we have a lot to talk about, so I think I might be staying here for the night. Is that alright with you?"

"_Sure, stay for as long as you need to. It sucks that I can't touch you or kiss you or even make your heart flutter, but… I think I'll survive._"

I giggled and wanted to kiss Damon, but he was so far away from me. "I hope you do and when I get back we'll do something together. I also have a lot to tell you."

We said our goodbyes and I went back to the living room. "Who was it?" my grandmother asked curiously as if she knew that I was in love.

I blushed and sat down next to her on the couch. "My boyfriend, Damon Salvatore. He's a vampire, but–"

"Damon Salvatore?" my grandfather repeated, sounding annoyed again. "You're dating _him_?"

I nodded. "I know that he's a vampire, but I really do love him and he loves me too. He's trying to help me and I'm helping him and his brother protecting the Petrova doppelganger."

They nodded understandingly, but my grandfather still seemed annoyed about me dating the notorious Damon Salvatore. I didn't care if he didn't like him or not, because I liked him and that was all what meant to me. I guessed that that was how my mom felt when she fell in love with my dad and got herself knocked up.

"You must be excited to meet the rest of your family. My mother's little brother Troy is coming over soon to pick up his daughters," my grandmother said. I smiled and just as I was about to say something, I heard Rose and Lily cheer loudly as their father arrived. "There he is. Troy! Come inside for a moment. There's someone you need to meet."

My mother's little brother, who was now a grown man, but his auburn hair told me that he was in fact related to my mother. He recognized me almost immediately and seemed happy to meet me.

"So you're Chris and Victoria's daughter? You look exactly like your mom, you know!" Troy said cheerfully and instinctively ruffled my hair like he probably used to do with my mom.

"Yeah, people keep saying that," I said. "So… you're a warlock too?"

Troy nodded and lit a few candles in the living room just by snapping his fingers. "We're all warlocks and witches in this family. Lily and Rose are too, but their powers aren't fully developed yet… Have you met your father by the way?"

I nodded. "He told me about how he and mom met. And he also told me about how you used to pull pranks on him whenever he came to your home."

Troy laughed of that, but his daughters began complaining about being hungry, so he had to go already. I didn't mind. It was nice to meet him and I still had the rest of the day to spend with my grandparents.

"Thank you for telling me the truth," I said. "I understand that you were just trying to protect me and Elijah… Elijah was just keeping his word."

"You're welcome, but we should apologize for not contacting you after your mom was kidnapped. We still love your mom and hope that she is okay and her siblings are trying their best to locate her," my grandmother said. "Until they do, I hope that you will be careful and stay out of trouble."

"Of course. But I don't think trouble will stay away from me…" I sighed heavily.

My grandparents both sighed, but they quickly changed the subject and began telling me about mom instead. I was happy they did that, because I really didn't want to worry about everything that was going on at my first trip to my grandparents' home. I wanted to spend some time with them in case I was never going to see them again. I had a very bad feeling that something big _would_ happen.

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	20. Betrayed

**A/N: Hii, here's another chappie :D**

**Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 20:

When I returned in Mystic Falls and went straight to school, I met Elena and Stefan, who suddenly began acting strange as soon as they saw me. I ignored their weird behavior and asked them if anything had happened while I was gone.

They both went to shake their heads, but then Elena remembered that Bonnie had been attacked by Dr. Martin and he took her powers away. She invited me to another girl night and even though I missed Damon, then I said yes. If anyone could help Bonnie, then it would be me.

I'd spent all day yesterday by training my powers and my grandparents showed me how to unlock my more powerful powers. I was now able to make even Elijah get an aneurism, but if I did that then I would get nosebleed. I had to train a lot before I could handle it physically too.

However, once we went inside I noticed that Stefan was talking quietly with Bonnie and Jeremy about something that seemed important and couldn't help but wonder if something else had happened while I was gone. I really hope that whatever it was then it didn't have anything to do with Elijah, because I wanted to help Elijah and stop Klaus before he killed me too like my predecessors.

"Did I miss something besides what happened to Bonnie?" I asked Elena worriedly.

Elena seemed a tad nervous all of a sudden, but she shook her head. Oh, she was definitely hiding something from me.

"_Elena_," I said firmly. "You can tell me what it is. Did something happen to my dad or Damon?"

"No! I mean, no they're both fine and it's really nothing. It's just that…" Elena looked towards Stefan for some reason and sighed. "Tyler has left town. We don't know where he is."

"Oh… Did he leave with Jules?"

Elena nodded. "We think so, yeah. But I'm sure he's fine. C'mon, we better get to class before Mr. Keenan gets annoyed."

I nodded and went to have English with Stefan, while Elena had to talk with Alaric for a moment about him and Jenna.

The school day went pretty normal and when we were done for today, Stefan and Bonnie headed to the grill because they wanted to talk with Dr. Martin and Luka. I called Luka and asked him to meet them there for them, because Luka was apparently mad at Bonnie. Even though Luka wasn't too happy about it, then he agreed to meet them at the grill.

While they went to the grill and sorted their problems out, I went back to the boarding house and was looking forward to see Damon. I locked myself inside, but when I went to the study room I found Damon on top of Elena, holding a tight grip around her neck and holding her down on the piano chair. He saw me enter the room and let go of Elena as if I'd caught them having an affair.

However, the way Elena was smirking revealed to me that she wasn't Elena, but Katherine Pierce and that meant that…

"You killed Elijah, didn't you? You did it while I was gone and now she's out!" I hissed angrily.

Damon muttered something that sounded like a curse, while Katherine chuckled tauntingly, but when he went to walk closer to me, I left the room and went looking for Elijah. I could sense him nearby, but it was very faintly. And when I found him dead in the basement cellar with the dagger in his heart, Damon quickly stopped me from getting to him and forced me in to the living room.

"You bastard! How could you do that to me? I _trusted_ you, Damon! I… I loved you and…" I looked away because the sight of his face made me want to kill him. I was furious and felt like I'd betrayed Elijah by telling Damon how you could kill an Original. Damon tried wiping the tears away, but I gave him aneurism and hit him in his face, knocking him down on the floor. "I _hate_ you, Damon! You've ruined e_verything_! Now I'm never going to see my mom again…"

I left the house and drove as fast as I could away from there. I shouldn't have left town in the first place. I should… I should have said something _yesterday_, so he wouldn't have killed Elijah and let Katherine loose.

I stopped the car somewhere where I could be alone and just sat there for a while, wiping the trickling tears off my cheeks and trying to calm down before I made something explode. This was truly a bittersweet moment. I now knew who I would be grieving over, but I'd still lost the man who raised me and did everything to make me happy even though he only had to protect me. Now this very same man was lying on the floor in a basement cellar and was dead. What was I supposed to–

I suddenly heard my cell phone ringing, but it was just Elena. I wiped the remaining tears away, took a deep breath, and answered the phone even though I was mad at her too.

"_Rhianna, I'm so sorry I didn't say anything. It's just… We can't trust Elijah. He is going to let me be sacrificed just so he can stop Klaus. There has to be another way to stop Klaus,_" she said. "_And you don't have to be mad at Damon. He wasn't the one who killed Elijah. I was._"

I didn't know what to feel now. I couldn't be as pissed as I was at Damon at Elena. She was one of my best friends and I trusted her.

"Elena, Elijah was just trying to protect me from Klaus. He wants me dead because I'm the doppelganger of the witch who cursed me," I said and heard Elena sigh. She was feeling guilty, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Elijah was dead. "If I have to forgive you, then you need to promise me something. Promise me that you'll help me find a way to bring Elijah back."

Elena was silent for a few minutes, but she agreed to help me and told me to come to her home. I took another deep breath and did so. I really hoped that you could bring an Original back, because without Elijah we were never going to stop Klaus. He was Klaus's brother and knew how Klaus's mind worked. I went to Elena's place, though, and she apologized about 500 times for doing what she did. I forgave her and tried thinking of finding a way to help Bonnie, so she could help killing Klaus.

"We're going to the Mystic Grill now and go dancing… you want to join us?" Caroline asked, knowingly that I was in a bad mood right now.

I wasn't really interested in dancing, but I did want to forget about what happened to Elijah, so I went with them to the Mystic Grill and tried having fun. It felt so wrong, but still calming and it was just what I needed right now.

Caroline managed to take my mind off my problems, though, because when we got there she went up on the stage and sung a song for Matt, whom she'd have quite a lot of problems with. She wanted to tell the truth to Matt, but she couldn't. Caroline was actually a great singer and she made me think about how I felt about Damon.

Everything went well after Caroline had been on stage, but I couldn't get myself to call Damon. So I moved my focus to something else until I could and went to find Bonnie. She'd just been talking with Elena when I walked up to her and she seemed happy about something.

"If you want help getting your powers back, then I'm always here to help," I said kindly, but Bonnie's focus was elsewhere. I turned to what she was looking at and saw Dr. Martin enter the grill. He looked pissed. "We better go see what he's up to."

Bonnie nodded and we followed Dr. Martin. He was angry, because Luka was dead and since Elijah was dead too, he wanted Elena. I might have worked with them before, but I wasn't going to let him take Elena just like that, so when he made all the lights explode, the alcohol explode, and set the bar on fire, I stepped in and tried making the fire go out, while the others tried getting Elena safely out of here. Dr. Martin just set more things on fire and tried attacking me too for helping them.

Unfortunately for me, Dr. Martin managed to hit me under all the commotion and it was a fatal blow. I was knocked back and felt a broken piece of wood go through my back. I was dead before I hit the floor, but I knew that the ring would bring me back, so I just relaxed in my mind and waited patiently to wake up again.

When I finally did wake up, the wood that had pierced my body was gone and I was lying in a familiar bed. I was back at the boarding house and Damon was sitting next to me with an old book in his hand, trying to find something important. I didn't say anything when I sat up, but just rubbed the back of my neck and took a few deep breaths to get used to being alive again.

"Was it your plan to kill Elijah?" I asked without looking at him.

"Yes." was all Damon said.

I went to step out of his bed, but I changed my mind and turned to him. "I love you, Damon."

Damon didn't take his eyes away from the book. "I love you too, Rhianna."

I smiled weakly and gave him a kiss on his cheek before I left his bedroom. Even though I loved him, then I just couldn't sleep in the same bed when I knew that he was the one who planned to kill Elijah.

As I left the bedroom, I saw Katherine walk inside to him and she seemed like she was going to seduce him. I didn't know if Damon still had feelings for her, but I chose to trust him and just walked back to my bedroom instead of spying on them.

I only managed to change my clothes before Katherine came and she looked slightly pissed. I guessed that Damon rejected her and couldn't stop myself from smirking discretely.

"I hear you're Elijah's pet," Katherine said, smirking smugly. "_And_ the sixth doppelganger of a particular witch."

"So?" I said; ready to take her down if she attacked me.

"So you do know that Klaus will eventually kill you, right?"

"Yeah, I know. And he'll kill you too when he finds you."

The smirk on Katherine's lips faded away and she took another step towards me. "How does Damon feel about your destined faith? You _have_ told him that you're the sixth doppelganger, haven't you?"

That I hadn't. I didn't say anything, but narrowed my eyes at Katherine and made her cry out in pain. She flashed her fangs and wanted to kill me, but I sent her flying out of my room and closed the door after her. I wasn't going to waste my time with her. I was tired and had a lot on my mind right now.

Katherine didn't return to my bedroom, but Damon did in the middle of the night. He joined me under the covers and even though I was tempted to push him out of the bed, I didn't do it. I couldn't.

"I don't get you, Rhianna. I thought that you hated me…?" Damon said, tightening his arms around me.

I turned to face him and sighed. "As much as I don't like what you did, then like you too much to hate you…" I said.

Damon brushed a stray of my hair behind my ear and leaned in for a deep, but tender kiss. He made me forget what he and the others did and all I wanted to do was to melt in his embrace. It was strange how I could love a vampire after only a little over a week, but _love_ was strange and couldn't be defined as one single thing.

_If _I survived Klaus, then I was definitely going to write a story about us. I was sure Damon didn't mind being the ridiculous hot and smug vampire, who won the heart of a powerful witch and saved the day in the end…

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	21. Avelina

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the reviews, alerts, and faves! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 21:

Much to my surprise Damon had made breakfast for me and he told me that Katherine wasn't particularly happy to have me in the house after what I did to her last night. I really didn't care what she thought of me and just enjoyed my breakfast before I had to go to school.

"Do you know anything about a burial ground here in Mystic Falls?" Damon asked curiously, making me almost choke on the toast I was eating.

"You're not going to dig up a corpse now, are you?" I asked worriedly.

Damon sent me weird look, but shook his head and handed me a glass of milk. He showed me a page in the old book he'd been reading in last night and someone had written something about a burial ground where a hundred of witches were all burned to death.

It wasn't just a burial ground, but more like a massacre sight. I didn't remember Elijah saying anything about the place, though, so I shook my head much to Damon's disappointment.

"I could try helping you find it," I offered. "My grandmother taught me how to locate the powers a witch releases at the place where they were killed violently. But… Damon, there's something I need to tell you about why I suddenly changed my mind about Elijah."

I began telling Damon about what my grandparents told me, about how Elijah had only been trying to protect me, and about why my mom was kidnapped by Klaus. Damon didn't seem to know what to feel. He looked worried, but he was also thinking of a way to use this knowledge to something good, like if I might be able to kill Klaus.

"We should wait before we do anything," Damon said. "But have you heard anything from Damien?"

I shook my head. "My grandparents did tell me that we can't trust him, though. His family is only after my powers," I said. Damon smirked slightly because that only confirmed his suspicion of that we couldn't trust him. "I thought we could… maybe do something together today. We've both been so busy and… I've just had enough of all that drama, of Klaus and–"

Damon interrupted me with a kiss and pushed me back down on his bed. I smiled against his lips because I could sense that Damon wanted to do something else too. We stayed in the bed almost all morning and kissed like we hadn't seen each other for years and not only a couple of hours or a day.

"So, my very strange witchy girlfriend, what are we going to do today? Hopefully, not something cheesy, right?" Damon asked curiously as he kissed me on the side of my neck.

"Well… I was thinking that maybe we could just go somewhere remote in Mystic Falls and enjoy that we're alive." I answered.

"Sounds like a good plan, but…" Damon leaned down to my ear and whispered. "…am I allowed to kill Damien if he decides to show up?"

I thought a little about that and nodded. Damien wasn't trustable, he trashed my home, threatened to kill the ones I loved, and stalked me.

"C'mon, let's go before something happens again," I said and got up. We got dressed, left the house, and Damon took me for a walk in the woods. I had the sense that he was looking for something as well, but I didn't mind it as long as we could spend some time together. "About that burial ground… I could try searching for it now if you want."

Damon looked at me as we walked through the woods and smirked. "Was it that obvious?" he asked.

I nodded with a smile. "It's ok. I know that you're not the person to spend a whole day without doing something that could help us… But you might want to stop for a moment."

We both stopped at a lake nearby and I took my shoes and socks off, while Damon waited at the banks. I told him to stay where he stood, took out a pendulum I'd brought with me in case Damon wanted me to find the massacre sight, and then walked out into the lake.

The water was cold and made my feet freeze, but I ignored the coldness and began swinging the pendulum around in a circle above me, chanting out ancient words and listening to the voices of the dead witches. I could hear them speaking to me and they told me to kill Klaus after the sacrifice. I had to do the same thing my ancestors did, but instead of cursing him, I had to rip his heart out.

I stopped swinging the pendulum and looked at Damon. I knew where the witches' power was, but I was worried about something. The witches said that I had to kill Klaus _after_ the sacrifice, because they knew that I would only be able to curse him before it. And that meant that Elena had to die anyway.

"You know where it is?" Damon asked when I walked up to him.

I nodded and signed for him to follow me. We went to the burial place together and saw an old house that had looked better. It looked like it could collapse at any minute, but it was definitely the right place. I could hear the voices of the witches telling me to tell Damon to stay away.

"See, this is why I love you!" Damon said, smirking brightly.

I punched him on his arm, but he just chuckled and pulled me into my embrace, pressing his lips against mine for a while.

"Damon, you're simply…"

"Amazing? Irresistible? Smoking hot?" he guessed.

I giggled and wrapped my arms around him. "Yup, those kinds _and_–"

"A real pain in the butt right now," someone said nearby us. We both turned our heads and frowned when we saw no other than Damien and his annoying minions. He was smirking smugly and looked like he wasn't just here to talk with me. "I gave you a choice, Rhianna. I offered to _help_ you and then you fool around with a vampire instead of saving your mother?"

"Says the guy whose family is only trying to get my powers!" I snarled, but Damien didn't seem surprised of that I knew that. "If you kill any of my friends, family or Damon, then I'll kill _you_!"

Damien snorted. "How are you supposed to do that? You don't know how to use all that power inside you, but I do and I can cut your right hand off and then kill you permanently before you can even say a word."

I gulped because he was partly right. Of course Damien didn't know that I'd learned to unlock more of my powers, but he probably could get the ring off me and then kill me. However, that didn't stop Damon from attacking Damien. He disappeared in a blur and suddenly was on top of Damien, flashing his fangs and red eyes at him.

Damien's minions went to attack Damon, so I quickly gave all of them an aneurism that they couldn't survive. Unfortunately, some of the minions were witches too, so they fought back and weren't killed by my attack.

Everything seemed to go so fast that I could barely keep up with what happened and before I knew it, Damon was kneeling on the ground and screaming in pain, because Damien was giving him a massive aneurism.

I jumped on Damien's back and he tried getting me off him, but it was too late. He should never have let me keep The Tear of Raziel, because now I could use it against him. I'd kept it around my neck ever since and now I used it.

I closed my eyes, placed my hands on his head, and entered his mind. He tried fighting back and was blocking his mind with barriers, so I had to turn the volume up and use more magic than I could handle. I could feel blood trickling down from my nose, but ignored it and endured the pain.

But as I finally entered Damien's mind, I saw something that made me happy that I didn't trust Damien. He was working for Klaus and he'd told Klaus that I was here. He had also told him that he would try winning my heart over, so Klaus could use me for his own personal gain.

Shocked with what I saw and weakened by using so much power, I let go of Damien before I could take control over him and fell to the ground. Luckily, Damon wasn't going to let him get away that easily and drove a stake through his heart that Damien's minions had tried driving through _his_ heart. I watched as Damien's limb body fell to the ground and he took his final breath.

"Rhianna! Are you okay?" Damon asked worriedly.

I nodded and wiped the nosebleed away, but I was too dizzy and weak to get up, so Damon took me up in his arms and carried me back home. Now I understood what my mom meant with "special occasions if needed". This… necklace was too powerful for a 17-year-old witch like me that didn't have any experience with it before. I could probably have gotten myself killed if I hadn't let go of Damien's mind. Sure, I would be brought back by my ring, but how many times could it exactly bring me back?

"Well, well, well… I thought you were going on a quiet and normal date?" Katherine said, smirking smugly.

I tried flipping her off, but I was too weak to even raise my arm. Damon ignored her, though, and gently placed me on the couch, then fetched me a glass of scotch mixed with his blood. I needed a drink and I needed his healing blood, but I mostly needed some peace and I couldn't get that with Katherine around, annoying me with her smug voice.

"Damon, can't you throw her out? She's giving me a headache just by being here…" I muttered and took another sip of my drink.

Katherine rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch next to my feet. "You know, there _is_ a way to stop Klaus from killing you…" she said in that smug _I-know-something-you-don't_ tone. "You've heard about how the Original witch Avelina fell in love with Klaus a long time ago?"

I nodded, remembering reading it in the book at my grandparents' place. They were, according to the book, madly in love with each other and it was almost a Romeo & Juliet scenario. Avelina's family didn't trust Klaus and they'd heard that he was a hybrid, so they told her to lure him to a place far away from the village they lived in and there they did the sacrifice. It broke Klaus's heart so badly that he made that promise and he'd been pissed ever since.

"What about that?" I asked worriedly.

"It's just a suggestion, but you could make him fall for you. Of course you would have to let go of Damon then and live the rest of your life with Klaus, but… hey, it's better than being killed." Katherine answered.

I looked at Damon and could see that he was worried that I might actually do that, but I would never do that to him. I loved him – not the world's most dangerous and oldest hybrid alive. Besides, what happened in the past was the past and Avelina did break Klaus's heart.

"Katherine, you have 5 seconds to leave this room before I give you an aneurism," I said, glaring icily at her. She didn't move, so I started counting and she finally left in a blur. Damon chuckled and sat down at her seat, putting my feet on his lap and massaging them in the most wonderful way. I accidentally let out a moan and leaned back in the couch. "Wauw… who taught you to give such great foot massages?"

Damon chuckled softly and smiled one of his disturbing, but alluring smiles. "Hey, what can I say? My good looks and skills in bed isn't the only thing that's great about me…"

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	22. Unwanted Expectations

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the reviews! :D**

**This chapter is rated... well, not M, but kindda M-ish or... I don't know! xD**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 22:

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked worriedly as Damon, Jeremy, and Bonnie and I were walking up to the witches' burial ground.

We'd been looking around in Dr. Martin's apartment for a particular spell that would allow Bonnie to harness the power of the dead witches and were now on our way to the burial ground that Damon and I located yesterday.

But while we were searching for a way to stop Klaus, Elena had her own problems. Her biological mother Isobel was back in town and I heard that she was a vampire, who used to work with the bitchy Katherine Pierce. I was partly happy that my mom wasn't a vampire, but she sadly was working with one too and might be dead right now.

"Rhia, have I ever been wrong about something?" Damon asked.

"Um… yeah," I answered much to Damon's annoyance. "Alright, alright, but I'm so going to say _I told you so_ when the witches attack you in there."

Damon rolled his eyes and walked inside the house anyway with the rest of us right behind him. Not even a minute passed by before Damon suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and couldn't move. I could hear how immensely annoyed the witches were and couldn't stop myself from gloating.

"I told you so…" I said, making Damon groan loudly.

However, suddenly his ring lost its power and his face started to burn in the sunlight. Then he suddenly got a massive aneurism too and even though Bonnie and I were capable of doing these things to him, then it definitely wasn't us.

"Huh, look at that. The witches are still capable of using their powers even though they're dead."

Bonnie agreed to that and helped Damon by making the aneurism stop and his ring began working again. I heard the witches say that they wanted Damon to leave, so I took his hand and went outside with him. I couldn't leave him outside alone of more than one reason and Bonnie knew what to do in there, so I wasn't needed anyway.

"That wouldn't be the first time your sorry ass got kicked by a witch!" I joked.

Damon narrowed his eyes at me and went to grab me, but I instinctively moved away and ran. He quickly ran after me, though, and when I reached the other side of the old house, he suddenly stood in front of me. He pinned me to the wall behind me and moved in to kiss me teasingly. I giggled, but enjoyed this little game of ours and the fact that we could spend a little time alone now.

"Damon, I've been thinking a bit about us lately and…"

"If you're going to break up with me, then I'll compel you to stay with me," Damon interjected, but I quickly shook my head. This had nothing to do with us breaking up. "You've been thinking about us lately and… what?"

I blushed and couldn't believe that I was about to say something like this. "And I… Don't make me say it. I… can't."

Damon frowned now. "Well, if you can't say it, then how am I supposed to…? Oh, now I get it!"

I blushed even more and could feel my heart pounding hard against my chest. Boys had always been the last thing on my mind and now that I finally had a boyfriend, the thought of taking the next step was scaring _and_ exciting me.

"I thought we could… you know, tonight," I said shyly. "I really want to, but I'm worried that I might regret it and–"

Damon interrupted me with such a perfect kiss that made me forget all worries I had. I wanted Damon right here and now, and if I hadn't been distracted by the sound of Bonnie screaming, then I would probably have lost my virginity here. I took it as a sign from above of that I should wait a little longer, while Damon took it as Karma taking revenge on him.

"You should go in and check if they're okay," Damon said reluctantly, but he didn't let go of me just yet. He pulled me in for another quick kiss and whispered into my ear. "I promise you that you won't regret your choice tonight."

I smiled shyly and quickly went inside to them, finding Jeremy comforting a crying Bonnie. She was weak and tired, but I could tell that the spell worked.

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I… I'm fine," Bonnie said, sounding a little out of breath. "It worked. The spell worked."

I smiled and helped Jeremy getting her back to the car, only to find out that Damon had left us. The car was still here, though, so I figured that someone must have called him. It was a good thing that I had his car keys because Bonnie needed to get home and rest. I gave both of them a ride home and then went back to the boarding house where Damon was with a dead John Gilbert hanging over his shoulder. I was almost too worried to ask what had happened, until I saw the bite mark on his throat.

"Who bit him?" I asked.

"I don't know. Probably Isobel or someone else stupid enough to do it," Damon said, putting him down on the floor. "He'll wake up in a few hours… Aw, man! He ruined my shirt!"

I couldn't stop myself from giggling of that and while Damon went in to the bathroom to clean his bloody hands and change his shirt, I went in to the living room and thought about my big debut tonight. It was frightening to think about it, but I wanted to take the next step and since we've already said those three words to each other, then it felt right to do it.

"_Rhianna!_" Damon suddenly yelled in an angry tone. The sound of his voice startled me so much that I fell down from the couch, but I quickly got up again and saw Damon walk out of the bathroom without his shirt on. "Katherine took the moonstone and she has Elena too."

That was all Damon had to tell me before I quickly left with him after he'd gotten a new shirt on. We met up with Stefan on the way and drove to a stunning, but abandoned house that Katherine had offered to Elena as a safe house. No one seemed to be inside the house, though, but we did find Isobel's stuff.

On our way back, Elena called us and told us that she was at the Grove Hill Cemetery, so of course we went to pick her up as fast as we could. I didn't need my powers to sense that something horrible had happened, but I didn't ask and just tried cheering her up.

I did get an idea, though, of how we could protect Elena and prevent any unwanted vampires to get inside the boarding house and told Damon and Stefan about the idea when we got back. They thought it was a good idea to let Elena become the owner of the house, but they wanted me to become the owner too in case anything happened to either one of us. After all, Klaus wanted me too so he could get his revenge once again.

"If I also sign the papers…" I began saying as Elena sat with the deed in her hands. "Does this then mean that I _don't_ have to invite Damon in?"

Damon laughed dryly, while Elena and I giggled. I _was_ kindda tempted to do it, but of course I would invite him inside. He was my boyfriend and as much as I preferred having his bed all to myself, then it wouldn't be the same without Damon's arms around me at night.

"Well, Rhianna, don't we have something important to do now?" Damon asked secretively, but he was smirking in a way that made me blush rapidly.

"Um… yeah, you're right… Just tell me when to sign the papers," I said and Damon swiftly carried me upstairs to his bedroom quicker than I could react. "Either you haven't gotten laid for a while or else you're just really excited about being my first!"

Damon chuckled and placed me on his bed, kissing me softly on the side of my neck. I locked my legs around him and felt his lips crash with mine. I didn't think that I was ready for this, but I felt very much ready right now and wanted him so badly. And even though Damon took it slow for my sake, then I could sense and feel that he wanted me badly too.

Of course I had certain unwanted expectations about my first time, but all those unwanted things I felt that night was nothing compared to how I felt afterwards when I'd gone through the worst part. The feeling of having Damon so… _close_ to me was simply unbelievable. Especially, because it was with the vampire I'd fallen deeply in love with and who made me feel like I wasn't alone in this world.

Even when the wonderful feeling started fading away and we were just lying closely next to each other, I felt truly happy and like nothing could ruin this perfect moment. Not the Lémieux family, not Katherine, and definitely not Klaus.

"So… did I live up to your expectations?" Damon asked, kissing me teasingly on my face.

I giggled. "No, you were horrible!" I lied, making Damon roll his eyes and tug me closer to him. I was still naked under the covers, so I instinctively blushed and felt my heart pound hard against my chest. "That is so not fair! You know I'm not used to this…"

Damon chuckled and kissed me passionately. "Yeah, but it's nice to know that I can make even a 17-year-old witch/doppelganger nervous!"

I stopped the kisses and narrowed my eyes at him. "You're such a pervy vampire."

He just smiled brighter of that reason and ran his fingers through my hair. "And you're a naughty witch in the bed, but I'm not complaining!"

I pushed Damon away and threw a pillow over his face, so he wouldn't look at me while I looked for my panties and bra. But when I went to grab my panties, Damon quickly snatched them away from me and held them up in the air.

"Hello Kitty!" he teased, making me blushing rapidly. "I did not expect that from you, but it explains why you–"

"Give that back to me!" I exclaimed, but Damon swiftly got his own boxer shorts on and then went to the other end of the bedroom. "Damon, give it to me, you pervy dick!"

"Oh, no! It's mine now! The same goes for you very nice bra…"

OMG… this was so embarrassing. Remind me not to sleep with Damon _ever_ again!

I narrowed my eyes at him and gave him a banging headache and then quickly grabbed my panties while he was distracted. He still had my bra, though, so I used my powers to make a lamp fly towards him faster than he could react. He merely chuckled and played with my bra as if it was nothing but a toy for him. Who would have guessed that a 100+ years old vampire would be so immature?

"If you don't give my bra back, then I'll never sleep with you again and cut something very precious of yours off in your sleep!" I warned.

Damon suddenly disappeared, but I heard a sound coming from behind me and when I turned around I saw that Damon had put my bra back on. I giggled and wrapped my arms around him, but just to get my revenge on Damon, I pulled his boxer shorts off him and used it to tease him this time.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	23. Save The Last Dance

**A/N: Hii, here's an extra long chapter for you lovely readers! :D**

**Thanks for all the reviews and enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 23:

_Georgia, 1994_

"_Vickie, this is your last chance," Klaus said, smirking mischievously. "Come with me or I'll kill little Rhianna and you don't want that to happen, do you now?_"

_My mom shook her head, fighting hard to keep the tears inside. She was barely 18 and now this happened. She knew that it would happen eventually to one in her family, but she didn't expect it to be her, who would give birth to the doppelganger. _

_Luckily for her, Klaus didn't know that. He had lived for many years and didn't realize that she wasn't the doppelganger, but she just looked very much like her. But even if he knew she knew that he wouldn't care if she lived or died. He lost his compassion when her-no our ancestor broke his heart._

"_Fine. I'll… I'll go with you, I promise," Victoria said. "Just-just let me take her somewhere safe. She deserves a better life."_

_Klaus chuckled dryly and looked down at me with his bright blue eyes. I felt my body tremble with fear, but even then I could sense the love I once felt for him. The love Avelina felt for him. Klaus flashed a disturbing smile and gave me a kiss on my small head before handing me to my mom. I could feel her grip tighten around me as if she was afraid that someone would take me away from her again._

"_Well then, now that that's settled, then I will go. But Victoria, you already know the consequences of what will happen if you betray or deceive me – even the slightest bit. One child's life mean nothing to me…" Klaus said and walked up to my mom. _

_I could feel her heart pound hard against her chest and rested my head on it, so she would calm down and I wouldn't feel so scared. Klaus went to touch her face and smiled when she flinched by the touch of his hand on her cheek. _

"_So… jumpy. You might be the next doppelganger, but you're different from your predecessors and Avelina. Very… strange. Atlas, I must go. I have another doppelganger and a moonstone to find. I hope we'll meet each other again soon as agreed. Bye, sweetheart!"_

_Klaus chuckled and left the apartment, leaving my mom to finally let out her tears. She sunk down to the floor with me still in her arms and just cried, wishing deeply that she'd never said no to my dad's offer. She'd just been so angry with him for not wanting to be a part of her life anymore just because she wanted to keep me…_

"_Rhianna… Rhianna, wake up!" a familiar voice said._

I opened my eyes and could feel that my cheeks were wet, the pillow too, and Damon was hovering above me with a worried look on his face. It was morning, I realized, which mean that it had all just been a dream-no, a memory. A very old memory that for some reason appeared this night.

"Are you alright? And don't say you are, because when you start crying in your sleep, then something is definitely wrong!" Damon said.

"I…" I sighed and wiped the tears away before sitting up and facing him. "It was just a bad… memory."

"Oh… what was it about?"

I shrugged, looking away out of the window in his bedroom. The sun was shining today and the sky was perfectly blue. A total contradiction of how I felt right now.

"Klaus… It was about Klaus. And my mom."

Damon frowned, trying to understand what I meant, but before he could say anything, we suddenly heard the doorbell ring downstairs. The man, who was going to help Elena and I with the paperwork, had arrived and it was time for us to sign the papers.

"We'll get your mom back alive. I promise," Damon said and he sounded like he actually meant it. He was determined to help me get her back and I was thankful for that. I smiled, wrapped my arms lightly around Damon's neck, and gave him a tender kiss that made my heart melt for a minute. "We better get ready, but you are going to invite me inside once you're co-owner of _my_ home, right?"

I chuckled. "If you behave, then yes." I said teasingly.

We kissed one last time before getting up and getting ready for the meeting. The meeting itself was really boring and all Elena and I had to do was to read a few pages through and then sign the deed in our names. When we were finally done and the man had left, Elena and I went to the door and looked at Damon and Stefan who were unable to get inside. Of course Elena invited only Stefan inside, but after they'd left, I didn't invite Damon inside immediately.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Damon asked, smiling dryly.

I nodded, grinning brightly. "More than you could ever imagine!" I said, walking as close to the threshold as I dared to. "This is part 2 of your punishment for taking my underwear last night."

Damon chuckled by the thought of that. "What if I promise to behave and give you a taste of last night?"

I pretended to think about it even though I'd already made up my mind. "Okay, but I also want your leather jacket. And I want the one you're wearing right now."

Damon groaned now. I knew that he had a whole closet filled with leather jackets and the one he was wearing today was his favorite.

"Rhianna…" Stefan said sternly.

"Alright, alright! Damon, I hereby invite you inside my and Elena's home," I finally said and when Damon stepped over the threshold, he reluctantly gave up his beloved leather jacket to me. "Don't worry, love. I'll take good care of it!"

"Yeah, you better do! I've had a lot of good memories with this one." Damon said.

I chuckled, wrapped my arms around him, and gave him a proper "thank you" kiss that he seemed to enjoy quite a lot. We got completely caught up in the kiss that Elena had to cough loudly before I finally let go of Damon.

"I finally got myself a girlfriend and then you're such a buzz kill…" Damon muttered, making Elena roll her eyes.

"That might be, Damon, but Rhia and I have to go to school." Elena said.

Oh, yeah… right… school. I rather wanted to stay at home with Damon, but I couldn't keep skipping my classes if I wanted to get into a good university. So I left the house with Elena and Stefan and we went to school together, while Damon was forced to be home alone all morning.

When we got to the school and went to have History with Alaric, I noticed that there was something… different about him. I couldn't point out what it was, but he definitely seemed different – almost confused and like–

"So are you coming to the dance?" Elena asked me, making me frown for a moment but then I saw the poster for the 60's Decade Dance.

"Hell yeah!" I said cheerfully because it had been a long time since I'd gone to a party.

Elena smiled and when I turned my attention back to Alaric, I noticed that he was staring at me in a weird way as if I'd done or said something particular to take his interest.

However, the class started and we ended up talking about the 60's. It was nice, but the 60's wasn't exactly my favorite decade and we only talked about things that happened in that particular decade. It was like any other normal History lesson, except that Alaric mostly looked at me during the whole lesson. It was kindda strange, because he never looked at me like that.

When the lunch break started, I went to my locker alone, while Elena and Bonnie went ahead to the canteen, and opened my locker. As I did, a letter fell out of it along with, not a red rose as I expected, but a beautiful and familiar red-striped tulip.

Just as I touched the tulip, I was struck by a very lifelike flashback that definitely didn't belong to me. In the flashback I was somewhere in Eastern Europe, dressed in 10th century clothes, and a young, teenage Klaus stood in front of me with the tulip in his hand.

I snapped out of the quick flashback and stood completely still for a couple of minutes, unable to move, think or breathe.

"You dropped something," I suddenly heard someone say and flinched. I quickly turned around and sighed in relief when I saw that it was just Alaric. He handed me the letter and looked a bit too long at me. What the hell was up with Alaric today? "Did I startle you?"

"Oh, um… yeah, kindda. But it's okay, I… I was just thinking of something," I said and saw Alaric's eyes travel down to the tulip. I didn't know why, but I blushed. "Probably a gift from Damon…"

Alaric frowned now, but then nodded understandingly. "How is your relationship with Damon going by the way? I know that Damon isn't exactly the type to have a serious relationship…"

I blushed a little more. He was so right about that. "It's going… great. We're happy and he's been really nice, which is kindda scary sometimes considering how he was before."

We both chuckled a bit, but then I remembered that I had to meet up with Elena and Bonnie. "I have to go. Elena and Bonnie are waiting for me."

Alaric nodded, but he remembered something too. "Oh, and are you coming to the dance tonight? It's about time we all get to relax and have fun."

I nodded in agreement and finally left. But when I came to the canteen, I saw that Elena was pretty freaked out as if anything had happened while I was gone. She told me that Klaus was here in the school and that he had compelled a girl named Dana to pass on a message to Elena. I got a very bad feeling that the letter and tulip weren't from Damon and quickly opened the letter.

"What does it say?" Elena asked worriedly.

"_Save the last dance for me. Klaus_…" I read and quickly sat down before I fainted.

Oh, God! Oh God, oh God, oh God! Klaus was_ here_ in Mystic Falls and had been at this very same school!

"Rhia, calm down. This is our opportunity. We go to the dance and we take out Klaus together as planned," Bonnie said. "I'm sure we can do it."

I nodded. She was right. We had to try even though Klaus wasn't vulnerable right now, because it was better than doing nothing and a hell lot better than freaking out. I just wondered why Klaus had given me a tulip and what it meant to him and Avelina.

"Who gave you the tulip?" Elena asked curiously, obviously first noticing it now.

I looked at it and sighed heavily. "Klaus…" I answered reluctantly.

"Maybe you shouldn't mention _that_ to Damon…" Bonnie suggested.

Not maybe. Definitely! If Damon saw this and the letter, then he would… well, I didn't know what he would do, but it was probably something very, very stupid that could get himself killed.

None of us said anything in the rest of the lunch break, but when we were finally off from school, we went straight home and told Damon about what happened in the canteen at almost everything I found in my locker. It was going to be hard finding Klaus, but at least I had a sense of how he looked from my and Avelina's memories, so Bonnie and I agreed to keep in contact with each other.

"But if Klaus tries something, then let me take him down. I have the resurrection ring, remember?" I said, nodding to Bonnie.

She nodded understandingly, but I could tell that she wasn't too fond of the idea of me fighting Klaus alone. Neither was Damon, but I had to do it. Klaus was my problem, because it was my ancestor who cursed him from the beginning and started this mission of his.

"Well, if you are going to the dance, then so am I," Damon said, making me frown a tad. Wasn't he a tad too old for that? "As a chaperone, of course. I'll ask Rick if he'll chaperone with me."

Oh… I went to say something, but just as I did Alaric entered the house and he was acting less strange, so I wasn't so worried about him anymore. After Damon had briefed Alaric about the current situation, he took me upstairs to the attic to find some clothes to me.

After all, it was a 60's party, so I had to wear the right outfit and so did he. I couldn't wait to see which clothes Damon was going to wear and would probably laugh of him no matter what he chose to wear. I did kindda look forward to the dance and needed to relax a bit like normal teenagers did.

"Ohh, you are so going as a sexy hippie!" Damon said, holding up a sexy and short hippie dress.

"You wish!" I chuckled and stuck my tongue out at Damon. He grinned and held the dress up in front of me. It actually was kindda pretty in an odd way. "Okay, fine! I'll wear it. But what are you going to wear? Bell-bottoms?"

Damon laughed dryly and showed me a black half-open shirt that would let him show off some of his muscular chest. He was also going to wear dark metallic colored pants, which I found very funny.

"How much did you get laid with this outfit?" I asked curiously. "You know what. Don't answer."

Damon chuckled and pulled me in for a kiss to take my mind off tonight. It worked pretty well and just like this morning, we were too caught up with what we were doing that we couldn't stop. In case something horrible did happen tonight, then I wanted to show Damon how much I loved him, so I let him take me back to his bedroom and we refreshed the memory of our special night.

It wouldn't be long until I finally met Klaus and when I did, I would use all my strength to kill him and get my mother back alive. For 17 years my mom had pretended to be the doppelganger and worked for Klaus, who must have put her through all sorts of horrific things, but tonight it would end.

**Thank you for reading and please review! :D**


	24. Hell Bent

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the reviews and I'm sorry to say that I won't be updating any more today, because I'm going to the cinema and watch part 2 of the new Harry Potter movie today! (Yes, I'm really, really excited about it!) :D**

**Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 24:

At first Damon didn't want to dance, but merely stood with Alaric and watched the hundreds of teens dancing in their 60's outfit, so I found Elena and Stefan and danced with them for a little while, until we saw Caroline arrive at the party too. Stefan nodded to someone and when he left, Elena and I suddenly danced with Damon instead. Elena made up some excuse to get away, because she knew that I wanted to dance with Damon alone, and left too.

"You know, I would _love_ to see your moves…" I purred, making Damon chuckle and spin me around elegantly.

"Okay, watch and be amazed, because I've got moves you've never seen!" Damon said and pulled me close to him, his hands creeping down to the hem of my short dress. I felt his fingers at the hem of my panties and blushed immensely. "If this night goes well, then you and I are going back to my bedroom and you can whip me if you like… preferably with whip cream!"

I moved Damon's hands away and took a step to the side, parting us again, but still holding one of his hands. He spun me around again and then pulled me back in to his warm embrace. I kissed his revealed chest and felt his lips on the top of my head as I did so.

"Well, I actually hate whip cream, so…" I chuckled and met Damon's eyes. He chuckled too. "I'm sure we'll figure something out when we get home and I'm even in the mood."

"Oh, I'll make sure you're in the mood!"

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Perv!"

Damon laughed, but we continued dancing wildly together for the next couple of minutes, until the song changed to a slow dance and we set the tempo down too. I wrapped my arms around Damon's neck and watched all the other couples in the gym dance closely together.

"Damon, I–"

"Could you please wait here? I need to talk with Bonnie for a moment," Damon said. I was a tad startled by that he suddenly had to leave, but I nodded and felt him press his lips against mine briefly. "And I love you too. Now, be careful. Okay?"

I chuckled because Damon knew that I was going to say those three wonderful words, but nodded again and watched him leave. I looked around and saw Elena talking with Jeremy, so I went up to them but as I did, Jeremy leaved and he seemed kindda annoyed at someone.

"What's his problem?" I asked worriedly.

Elena shrugged and Stefan walked up, asking if anything was alright.

"You should talk with him." Elena said.

Stefan nodded and left again to find Jeremy, while Elena and I got ourselves a drink. "You're worrying about Klaus, aren't you?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

Elena smiled dryly. "Is it that obvious?" she said.

I nodded and gave her a hug. "It's ok. I'm worried too. But let's just stay together and keep an eye open for anything."

Elena nodded in agreement and we both took a sip of our drinks simultaneously, making both of us giggling a bit of it. But when Stefan returned and told us that Bonnie was planning to take Klaus out alone with her powers and possibly die in the process, our smiles faded away.

"Why would she do that?" I asked confusedly. "I mean, I got the ring and–"

"Jeremy said that she was worried that you couldn't use all of your powers like she can. But yours are also much stronger than hers and more difficult to handle." Stefan answered.

Oh… Bonnie was right about my powers being hard to handle, but that didn't mean that she should sacrifice herself. Even if she was going to do this, then she should at least have my ring on.

"We better talk with her?" I suggested and Elena didn't hesitate to agree.

We quickly went to Bonnie and almost dragged her outside to the parking lot, while Stefan went to scold Damon who was looking for me. We tried talking her out of it, but she was hell bent on doing it so it was of no use. Instead, I handed Bonnie my ring, because if she really wanted to do this…

"I can't take that," Bonnie said. "It's yours. Besides, you need it."

"But you're the one who's ready to fight Klaus. I'm terrified and you need all the help you can get, so... take it." I said.

Bonnie shook her head, but I insisted on it and in the end, we all were interrupted by Alaric. He said that Klaus had Jeremy, so we all followed him without questioning him.

However, when we went to go inside one of the backdoors, Alaric suddenly pushed me back out and said something that made me freeze.

"Remember to _save the last dance_ _for me_…" he said and then looked at someone behind me. "Ah, Maddox. Please escort Rhianna way."

Maddox? I quickly spun around and gasped, but before I could fight back, he suddenly placed his hands on the sides of my head and made me fall fast asleep. I fought to wake myself up, so I could warn Bonnie and Elena, but it was of no use. I was too fast asleep to do anything, but dream about the day Avelina cursed Klaus and broke his heart.

_Eastern Europe, 1012_

_They'd been out on a late night walk, talking about running away together and starting a new race of strong hybrids like Klaus. Avelina had liked the idea in the beginning, but she feared that hybrids would shift the natural order and that innocent people would get hurt. That was why she chose to do what she did that night. _

_Reluctantly, she took him to the woods, kissed him, and wanted him to make love to her one last time. At that time Klaus didn't know that it would be the last time, but he cherished the beautiful moment more than he'd ever cherished all the other times they'd snuck away and made forbidden, sweet, and passionate love._

_When Avelina finally took Klaus to the spot, he fell into an ambush and was tied to a tree. Her parents, the Original Petrova, and she then performed the agonizing and excruciating ritual, and Klaus's werewolf side – the one that allowed him to impregnate women – was cursed to be dormant. _

_Even after going through all that pain, Klaus still fought to get up and attacked her whole family in rage. She watched her parents die before her and ran as fast as she could with Klaus running right behind her, fangs flashed and rage glowing from his red eyes._

_Avelina tried fighting back, but she was too scared to do anything but to run. She quickly hid behind a large bush and waited anxiously as Klaus walked past her, still hell bent on getting his revenge. And then she suddenly felt someone yank her out from behind the bush and she was forced to face Death, who hovered over her with madness shining all over his face. He flashed his fangs and his eyes locked on her vulnerable, exposed neck…_

I woke up with a loud gasp just as Klaus was about to kill Avelina and looked anxiously around. At first I didn't know where I was or even what had happened, but then I saw Katherine – very much alive – standing in the kitchen and making coffee, and remembered what had happened.

Oh my God…

"Tea?" I suddenly heard someone say and became so startled that I fell down from the bed.

The person chuckled and I recognized his chuckle. It was different, but it was definitely him. I looked up at Alaric, who stood at the other side of his bed with a cup of coffee and a cup of tea in his hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" Alaric-no _Klaus_ said and chuckled.

Slowly, I stood up and looked around in his apartment for my mom. She wasn't there, though, but Maddox was and he was just about to leave.

"Where's my mom?" I asked worriedly.

Klaus handed me the tea, but I didn't take it so he put it down on the nightstand and sat down on the bed, his eyes locked only on mine. It made me feel uneasy – mostly, because I knew that he'd killed my predecessors and could easily kill me too if I wasn't wearing the…

I didn't look down to check if it was still there, but just tried touching for it with my fingers and was relieved to feel that it was still there. He couldn't kill me then, but he could torture me and kill me over and over again just for fun.

"Your dear mom is somewhere safe," Klaus said. "I'll be happy to take you to her a_fter_ the sacrifice – if you of course don't try anything stupid like your predecessors did."

I finally removed my eyes from Klaus and tried touching for my vervain bracelet. It was gone. Klaus noticed what I was doing and took my bracelet out of his pocket.

"Looking for this?" he asked tauntingly.

I didn't say anything, but quickly ran towards the door, opened it, and went to leave, but I hit an invisible wall that uninvited vampires normally hit when they tried getting inside a house. I gulped and turned to face a smirk Klaus, who stood right behind me.

"Don't touch me!" I snarled when he went to touch my cheek.

Klaus did it anyway and the way he stroked my cheek in that old familiar way, made my heart feel like it was melting a bit. It wasn't quite the same when he was still in Alaric's body, but the way he did it was what made me melt.

"You know, you really do look like your mother…" he said and leaned down to my ear, his teeth gently grazing my earlobe. "But you look completely like Avelina and act just like her and that is something your mother was never able to do. It was what convinced me that she wasn't the doppelganger. And what almost got her killed."

The latter made a shiver run down my spine, but I took a deep breath and reminded myself of that he couldn't kill me permanently and narrowed my eyes at him, trying to give him an aneurism. It worked since he wasn't in his normal body, but he suddenly grabbed me by my neck and forced me to look him into his eyes as he compelled me.

"Behave, sit down, and drink your tea."

I stopped using my powers, sat down on the bed, and drank my tea. Klaus chuckled again and finished his coffee, then compelled Katherine to stay in the apartment until he said so, and left. She sighed and turned to me, grinning of course by the sight of me being here too.

"Nice outfit," she commented, nodding towards my clothes. I looked down at my short hippie dress and sighed, but I noticed that Klaus had brought some clothes to me with him that was perfectly folded on the dresser. I finished my tea and went up to it to change my clothes. "You should have listened to me from the beginning. You could be far away from here if you had just–"

"Oh, shut up, Katherine!" I snarled.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	25. The Right Opportunity

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews, faves, and alerts! :D**

**I'll try updating 3 times today since I only updated once yesterday, so keep an eye out for the next chapters ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 25:

Having to spend the entire day locked up in my possessed History teacher's apartment with a bitchy vampire, who also was the one who turned my vampire boyfriend, was very… _frustrating_.

I was about to rip my head off when Katherine and I suddenly heard a knock on the door and voices outside. Katherine tried opening the door, but she couldn't because she'd been compelled to stay, so I tried opening it too, but as I was about to do it, the door suddenly opened and to my luck I saw my knight in shining armor.

"Damon! Thank God, you're here! _Please_ get me out of here before I rip my head off and…" I looked confusedly at Andie Star, who for some reason was here too. "Why the fuck are you here?"

Damon chuckled. "It's ok. I just needed someone, who could go inside since Elena disappeared off with Elijah this morning…" Damon said and sighed. "Did Klaus compel you to stay?"

Wait, what? Elijah was alive? I shook my head and chose to wait with scolding him about not telling me that you couldn't permanently kill an Original. Or… maybe he didn't know that too and was just as shocked as I was right now.

"He only compelled me to behave, but I can't leave anyway. Maddox has made sure of that."

He sighed and was about to ask about my ring, but I beat him to it and showed it to him on my finger. He nodded understandingly and turned his attention to Katherine.

While they talked, I went to talk with Andie, who had walked inside the apartment as easy as nothing and was looking curiously around. I didn't like that Damon took her with him, because she was much more beautiful than me and had bigger boobs, which I thought Damon would fall for.

"How much do you know about… us?" I asked worriedly.

Andie opened her mouth to say something, but it seemed Damon had compelled her not to. I nodded and sighed in relief. At least she wasn't going to tell anyone about our secret.

"Do you know a man named Elijah Smith?"

It was a wild shot, but surprisingly Andie did know him. "I met him at a dinner party. He's such a gentleman and very attractive too…"

I was silent, staring weirdly at her for a moment. "Yeah… I don't really care about that, but could you please give him a message from me? I just need you to tell him that Rhianna is alive, has her ring, and that she is very sorry about not trusting him. Can you do that for me?"

Andie nodded and went back to Damon, who was handing Katherine something. She drank it and by the sight of her expression, I could tell that it wasn't something delicious. I went back to them too and wished so badly to kiss Damon. He seemed to want that too, but he merely mouthed "I love you", while Katherine was distracted.

"You better share that with Rhianna," Damon said, eyes narrowed at Katherine. She groaned and handed me a little bottle with what smelled like vervain. "Drink it. Klaus won't be able to compel you any further then."

I thanked him and drank the bitter vervain filled water. "So… how did Elijah wake up? I thought he was dead for good." I asked.

Damon didn't want to answer, but I glared sternly at him, so he gave up and admitted. "If the dagger is removed from his heart, then he wakes up. I know you're pissed at me for hiding that from you, but Elijah would just kill us if I let you wake him up."

I opened my mouth to yell at him, but I knew that he was right and sighed heavily. "You do have a plan to get me out, don't you?"

"Of course." Obviously, a lie, but it gave me some comfort.

"I'm scared, Damon. I'm scared that he's going to do something to me or that my mom is already dead and…" I sighed again.

"Rhia, it's ok. I promise I'll get you out of here and we'll find your mom soon enough. But until then, you have to wait. You better take this as well."

Damon handed me his cell phone and I sighed in relief, because now I had some connection with the world outside the apartment. I just had to hide it, so Klaus didn't find it like he'd found my cell phone before I woke up.

"Damon, now that Elijah is awake and all, then could you please _try_ working together with him? He was just trying to protect me before and still doesn't want to see me dead."

Damon groaned, but he agreed to try _if_ Elijah even returned with Elena. I waited until I couldn't see Damon any longer before locking the door and turned to Katherine, who was once again smirking like the bitch she was.

"If you're going to say something about me and Damon, then shut up!" I snapped before she could even open her mouth.

"I wasn't going to comment your pathetic relationship, but now that you bring it up, then it makes me want to vomit. Seriously? You really think that Damon is going to stick with you forever when he can have Andie and every other woman in this town? Besides, what do you think will happen when you're 50, old, and wrinkly, and he's still young and smoking hot?"

I hadn't really thought about that, but I didn't even know if a witch could turn into a vampire, if I wanted to become one or if Damon and I were going to be together forever. We'd barely been together for a month, but we did fell in love with each other pretty quickly, so...

"Katherine, I don't care what you think of us or of what will happen to us in the future, because right now I'm more thinking about getting out of here, so I don't have to listen to your annoying voice all the time! If you want to get out too, then help me. If not, then leave me the fuck alone!" I snarled.

Katherine snorted and took a sip of the bottle of Bourbon she'd found just before Damon came. I seriously needed a drink right now, so I took the bottle from her and took a large swig of it. It burned in my throat, but it was just what I needed to be able to endure Katherine right now.

"Never took you for a drinker," Katherine said and took another sip of the bottle. I snorted at that, because I was reminded of how Damon and I had that drinking game a while ago. "I do want to get out of here, Rhianna, but we have to wait for the right opportunity. Until then, let's turn up the music and have a little fun. You do know how to have fun, don't you?"

"Oh, I know how to have fun!" I said and took another swig of the Bourbon, while Katherine went to turn up the music that was playing.

We poured up the Bourbon into two glasses and competed to see, who could drink the most before they had to vomit. But I told Katherine what I told Damon and accepted her challenge.

We became so drunk that we danced around in the apartment, jumped off the couch, and as strange as it sounded, then I actually had fun with her. She took my mind of everything and the alcohol calmed my nerves down.

However, Klaus eventually returned and when he did, I was so drunk that I could barely stand up without holding on to something, while Katherine only seemed half-drunk. Klaus was in a bad mood and threw the bottle of Bourbon into the wall when Katherine tried lightening up his mood.

The sound of the bottle shattering on the wall, made me gasp loudly and fall down to the ground, because I lost my grip on the kitchen counter. That made Klaus turning to me and smirk mischievously.

"Having fun without me, are we?" he asked, pulling me up.

I rolled my eyes and ignored his staring eyes. "What exactly does _behaving_ involve? Does it mean that I can't hurt you or what?" I asked.

Klaus chuckled and slipped his hands around my waist, pulling me annoyingly close to him. "Yes, and you won't try something stupid like harming yourself. You'll just be a good girl and do exactly what I tell you to do."

"You do realize that you sound like a pervert right now, right? And a pedophile, since you're in my History teacher's body."

Klaus smirked and leaned in to kiss me, but he stopped a few inches away from my lips and looked me deeply into my eyes instead, his pupils dilating as he did so.

"When I've gotten my own body back, then you and I are going to refresh the memory of our last time. You know, on the night when you betrayed me and cursed me…"

I gulped, but nodded automatically and pretended like he had compelled me. "But it was Avelina who betrayed you. Not me."

Klaus nodded, because of course he knew that, but it didn't seem to matter to him. When he looked at me, all he saw was the face of the woman he fell madly in love with and who then broke his heart by cursing him.

"That is true, but you have her memories hidden somewhere inside you. You've seen them before, haven't you? As flashbacks and… dreams. Avelina made sure her doppelgangers didn't forget what she did and who I was. She thought it would help her doppelgangers, but she should never have done it and you know why that is?"

I nodded. I knew. I could feel why and it pained me. "She still loved you. Even when you killed her."

Klaus nodded and suddenly moved his gaze to the door. Maddox was back and he'd brought Dr. Martin's daughter Greta with him along with a few other minions, who were carrying his luggage. They pushed a large, black box inside the apartment as well and I could sense that Klaus's body was inside it, sleeping heavily until his soul would return to its proper body.

Katherine and I were forced to watch as Greta and Maddox began performing the ritual that would bring Klaus's soul back to his body. I was scared of what was going to happen when his soul returned to his body, because he was expecting me to sleep with him. I didn't want to do it, but if I didn't then he would know that I had vervain in my system and kill Katherine and I.

When Greta and Maddox suddenly stopped chanting, the door to the box was opened and the real Klaus stepped out of it. His hair was much shorter than Avelina remembered, but his blue eyes remained the same and so did that disturbing, but still alluring smile of his. He immediately turned his attention to me and when I heard his voice for the first time in a long time, I felt my heart melt.

"Now that's more like it…" he said and grinned.

He walked towards me and this time he pressed his lips against mine. I might be on vervain, but I couldn't control Avelina's old feelings for him and was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He was a drug to me, but the bad kind of it, while Damon was the good kind of it. I still kissed him back, though, and let myself melt in his embrace. Now was the time where I could seduce him as Katherine had planned. I had to seduce him and do the same thing Avelina did, but this time he would die.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	26. The Sacrifice

**A/N: Hii, as promised here's the next chappie! :D**

**Another chappie will be up later today, but until then - enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 26:

My heart was feeling numb when I woke up the next morning, lying next to the sleeping Klaus, who wore nothing but his underwear like I did. I hated myself for having to cheat on Damon and wanted to cry out of guilt, but it was either that or turning up dead and never seeing Damon again. As much as I wanted to say that I didn't enjoy it, then a part of me did – the part of me that resembled Avelina so much and that had her memories hidden somewhere in my mind.

"_G'mornin', my love!_" Klaus said, moving my gaze instinctively to him.

He turned to his side, resting his head on his hand, while the other hand was tracing patterns on my exposed back. The touch of his fingers on my skin sent a shiver down my spine.

"Rhianna, I've grown tired of killing you over and over again. Every time I do so, I feel like… I lose a part of myself. You see, I never stopped loving you either. It doesn't matter that you're not the real Avelina, because there's still something about you and your predecessors that draws me to you. You're my… perfect fit."

I didn't say anything, but just thought about what Damon was doing right now. I might be Klaus's perfect fit, but he surely wasn't mine. I moved my gaze away from him again and sighed.

"Where is my mom?" I finally asked.

"As I said – somewhere safe," Klaus answered cryptically. "But you really shouldn't be worrying about her right now."

"She's dead, isn't she?"

I was almost too afraid to hear the answer, but I'd noticed how Klaus had avoided saying anything about my mom still being alive.

"No."

He leaned in to kiss me, but I moved away and stepped out of his bed. He groaned and pulled me back, quickly pinning my arms down to the mattress. He flashed his fangs and let them graze my exposed skin gently, until he reached my neck. I gasped when he sunk his fangs into my neck and felt him drain me for blood.

"A-ah, stop!" I gasped.

Klaus let go of me, a drop of blood was trickling down his chin. Instinctively, I wiped it away and briefly saw a flash of Avelina doing the same thing. She… used to let him drink her blood. Klaus licked the blood off my thumb and smiled.

"You still taste delicious," he said and kissed my neck, right there where he bit me. I winced a bit of the pain, so he bit his wrist open and let me drink his blood as well. It tasted strangely familiar, but my wound was healed and that was all what mattered. "Rhianna, the time I first laid my eyes on you, I knew that you were going to be the one helping me remove the curse Avelina was forced to cast upon me. I knew that I would love you and that you would finish what I planned with Avelina."

"And what if I refuse?" I asked calmly.

Klaus didn't answer my question, but gave me a quick kiss on my cheek and left the bed just before there was a knock on the door. He dressed and went to open the door, letting no other than Greta inside who'd come to go through the ritual with him one last time. I waited, until they'd left the apartment before getting fully dressed and took out Damon's hidden cell phone. I sent a text to Elijah and told him that Klaus just headed to the grill. Now was the right opportunity for him to save me.

Luckily, Elijah did receive my message and showed up at the apartment with a warlock I definitely knew who was. It was my uncle Troy.

"Are you alright, Rhia?" he asked worriedly.

I nodded."But can you get us out before Klaus comes back?" I answered.

Troy nodded and began chanting out something that would undo the spell Maddox had cast. When he was done chanting, he reached his hand out to me and I tentatively took it and felt him pull me out of the apartment. He hugged me tightly and planted a kiss on my forehead before letting me go.

"Oh, um… what about Katherine?" I asked, feeling slightly bad for leaving her in there alone.

"We'll leave her here, until after the sacrifice," Elijah said. "Besides, I've heard that Klaus compelled her to stay, so she can't leave anyway."

I sighed and looked apologizing at Katherine, who just rolled her eyes and went in to the other room.

"Come. We better get going before Klaus returns." Troy said, ushering me out of the building.

We took his car to the boarding house and while he drove, I couldn't stop myself from leaning my head on Elijah's shoulders. He slipped an arm around me and gently stroked my cheek.

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you," I whispered more than said. My throat was still sore and felt dry. "I'm… I'm so, so sorry. Please forgive me."

I looked up into Elijah's eyes and he gently brushed a stray of my hair behind my ear. "I'll always forgive you, Rhia," he said quietly. "Always…"

I smiled weakly and hugged him tightly as well. For the first time in a long time I felt truly safe. I might already have a dad, but Elijah had been there for me for so long and loved me as if I was his own daughter.

When we finally got to the boarding house, I almost ran into Damon, who was on his way out. He was stunned to see me out, but he quickly hugged me and then suddenly dragged me with him to his car without saying where we were going at first.

"Is someone in danger?" I asked worriedly.

"Yup. Klaus has Caroline and Tyler. He was planning to sacrifice them, but if we find and release them, then he's going to have to find another vampire and werewolf – hence the sacrifice won't happen tonight," he answered. "I need your help in case Maddox is there."

I nodded understandingly and let my fingers intertwine with his. He looked at me for a moment and smiled, clearly happy to see me back. I leaned in to kiss him on his cheek and hurried with him to the tomb where Caroline and Tyler were trapped.

Unfortunately, Maddox _was_ there and he was guarding the tomb. I didn't hesitate to throw him into a tree and then finally got to use a new ability my grandmother had taught me. Klaus was foolish of only compelling me to behave with him, because he said nothing about attacking his witches.

I made a ball of fire with the size of a soccer ball and threw it at Maddox, who quickly sent it flying towards a tree. Damon went to attack him too, but he sent Damon flying into the stone top of the tomb, only to give him a painful aneurism later. I tried making him stop, but he sent me flying into a tree. Maddox continued tormenting Damon, until we both suddenly heard a shot and Maddox dropped to the ground.

"Matt?" I said confusedly as he helped me up.

He was armed with a rifle, so I guessed that he'd heard that Caroline had been trapped and wanted to save her too.

However, Matt seemed to know that Damon was a vampire and turned his rifle to him, asking him of where Caroline was. I tried getting a word in before they- oh, too late… Damon knocked Matt unconscious with his own rifle. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, narrowing my eyes at Damon, who saw my annoyed facial expression.

"I'm sorry, ok? But we don't have time to deal with him right now." he said and dragged me down into the tomb.

We found Tyler and Caroline chained up to the wall, so while Damon removed Caroline's chains, I removed Tyler's.

"Wait, you're a vampire too?" Tyler asked confusedly.

"What? No, I'm a witch," I answered, a tad startled by his question. "It won't be long before you change… We need to get you somewhere else."

Tyler nodded and told me about his family's old cellar where he had put up chains that could keep him locked up.

We quickly helped Tyler get to the place, but it was a struggle because he was already starting to change. Matt, who'd woken up again, tried helping us, though, and when Damon suddenly got a phone call from Stefan, who told him that Elena had gone with Klaus, Tyler didn't seem to be able to walk anymore.

Tyler fell to his knees and screamed in pain. His hands started to change, his eyes turned yellow, and when we went to leave, he suddenly went to attack me, but Damon tackled him to the ground and told us to leave. I didn't. I couldn't leave Damon alone with Tyler. If he was bitten by Tyler, then he would suffer from the same faith as Rose did.

"It's ok, Damon. The ring will bring me back." I said, but he didn't care.

Damon grabbed my arm and fled with me, because not even he dared to stay near Tyler anymore. He took me to the witches' burial ground and told me to go inside to Bonnie, while he took care of a couple of things. I stopped Damon before he left and could sense that something was wrong. He felt… different. I pulled up his sleeve and saw that he _had_ been bitten by Tyler.

"Rhia…" Damon said, pulling his arm away and cupping my face with his hands. I could feel that I was starting to tear up. This wasn't happening. I'd just gotten back to him… I– "We'll find a cure later. Right now I need you to stay here and be careful, because… if you die then I don't even want to find the cure. I love you so much…"

I felt tears trickling down my cheeks, but Damon wiped them away and pressed his lips against mine. I didn't want to let go of him, because I was afraid that I might never see him again. But he told me to close my eyes and kissed me passionately. I kissed him back, until I couldn't feel his lips anymore and opened my eyes to find no one standing in front of me.

"Rhianna?" I heard Bonnie say behind me.

I turned around and took a deep breath. Bonnie had to kill Klaus, because I couldn't do it out of two reasons. 1. He knew where my mom was and if she was even alive. 2. The part of me that used to be Avelina didn't want to do it. So I took off my ring and handed it to Bonnie.

"You need it more than I do…" I said and left before she could give it back.

I ran as fast as I could towards the quarry where I knew Klaus would perform the sacrifice, but before I actually got there, I conjured up The Tear of Raziel. Just because I couldn't kill Klaus, didn't mean that I couldn't help Bonnie doing it. If I got my hands on him and distracted him long enough for Bonnie to kill him, then our plan would work and I would also get the answers about my mom.

"Mom, if you can somehow hear me, then please give me the strength to do this. Give me the strength to stop this once and for all."

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	27. Blood

**A/N: Hii, here's the third update today! Wauw, I didn't expect to finish it that quickly, but there's something you should know before you read the chapter. I changed quite a bit of what happens at the sacrifice itself, so... well maybe it's better if you just read it ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 27:

"Look who decided to come back…" Klaus said, pushing me up to Greta and out of my hiding spot.

He'd found me and he wasn't so pleased with me running away like that. I quickly looked towards Elena, a newly turned vampire Jenna, and the werewolf Jules. I didn't expect Klaus to have a backup vampire and werewolf, but now that I knew that I knew for sure that the sacrifice would happen tonight.

"Since I can't compel you to sit still, then I'm going to do something else. Greta, would you please link the two of us together?"

Link? I didn't even get to ask what that meant before Greta suddenly grabbed my hand and cut it, then grabbed Klaus hand and cut it too. She pressed our palms close to each other and started chanting something. I could feel my life force connect with Klaus's and I understood why he'd been so sweet to me at the apartment. I was _his_ backup. If someone tried killing him, then I would die too.

"Now, my lovely Rhianna… Sit down and watch the show," Klaus said, forcing me to sit down at the altar where Greta was. "Oh, and Greta… if she tries to flee, then you know what to do."

Greta nodded and the sacrifice began. As the circle of fire around Jules started blowing out, Klaus walked up to her and I had a flashback of the ritual Avelina performed many years ago. She had held the heart of a wolf up in the air, letting the moon's light shine upon it as she chanted out ancient words and sent a jolt of pain through Klaus's body.

I had to close my eyes as Klaus suddenly ripped Jules's heart out and went to the altar with it. He squeezed all of the blood out of it and Greta continued chanting, making the blood in the altar start to boil.

However, when he went to continue with Jenna, he suddenly turned his head towards the hill behind us and we all saw Stefan standing at the top. Klaus went up to him and I saw this as my chance to help Jenna and Elena.

As soon as I stood up and ran towards them, Greta raised her hand and gave me a strong headache that sent me down on my knees, screaming of the agonizing pain. My head felt like it was going to explode and death started seeming more alluring than to feel this pain for one more minute.

"Stop it!" Elena cried.

Greta stopped, but my head still hurt too much for me to stand up. I stayed where I was and watched Klaus and Stefan walk towards us. Klaus caught Stefan off guard and stabbed him in his back with something wooden that made Stefan fall down to the ground near me. I moved a little closer to him, while Klaus was walking towards Jenna, hoping that he would help me with what I said next.

"Stefan, Klaus linked us together," I whispered. "He thinks I still have the ring, but I gave it to Bonnie. If you don't get the chance to kill him, then kill me instead. He'll die too."

Stefan frowned and was about to protest, but I shook my head and looked him in his eyes pleadingly. I didn't know if the blood Klaus gave me this morning was going to bring me back, but it was worth a shot and I had to kill him one way or the other.

"Please, Stefan. Trust me." I whispered firmly.

Stefan sighed, but nodded understandingly. I fought to get up again and walked up to Klaus after he'd killed Jenna. He looked at me and flashed a smug smirk.

"Klaus, before you continue doing this, then there's something I need to ask you and you have to tell me the truth. Is my mom still alive?" I asked, hoping to stall him long enough for the others to get here and help us.

Klaus folded his arms and walked up to me, so we were only inches away from each other's body. His face was unreadable, so I couldn't tell if he was going to say yes or no.

"Yes," he said firmly. "But even if you use that little necklace of yours on me, then you won't find out where she is. You see, I don't even know where she is. But I do know someone who does."

Shit! There went that plan. But I could still keep him distracted and until the others came. I swiftly grabbed the knife on the altar and held it over my heart. Klaus merely chuckled and took a step forward to me. I instinctively took a step back.

"Rhianna, you're not going to die," he said. "If I don't heal you before you do, then I know that the necklace you're wearing will keep you alive. You didn't think that I'd let you wear it without knowing what it exactly does, did you?"

I didn't care. I stabbed myself in my chest anyway and Klaus instinctively bit his wrist open and forced me to drink his blood. If the blood he gave me this morning wasn't going to bring me back, then this would. I just had to get the necklace off before I did it or else Klaus would live too.

"You foolish girl," Klaus growled and pushed me down on the ground. "Do something stupid again and I'll order the guy who has your mom to kill her. And don't even try to take that necklace off, because if you do then I'll never give you what Damon need."

Wait, what? Klaus had a cure for a werewolf bite? That changed everything. If I let Klaus die, then I wouldn't be able to save Damon, but if I didn't kill Klaus, then we would all be in great danger. I closed my eyes again, but not because I couldn't handle watching Klaus kill Elena too, but because I needed to get inside Klaus's head without touching him. It should be possible, right?

I focused on Klaus as much as I could and used all my powers – even the ones I still didn't know how to control properly. The more I focused, the more my body hurt, but I sucked the pain up and tried entering Klaus's mind. When he dropped the now dead Elena to the ground, I was finally able to enter his mind and heard his thoughts.

The cure was… _inside_ him?

I also got a vision of where Klaus kept his and Elijah's other siblings, but their siblings weren't scattered across the sea. They were lying inside coffins with daggers in their hearts.

Before I could find out where they precisely were in Mystic Falls, my connection with Klaus was lost, because Bonnie sent him flying. And while Bonnie was chanting out ancient words that sent an agonizing pain through Klaus's changing body, Damon snuck up behind Greta and snapped her neck. I quickly grabbed the knife I'd used before and pulled off my necklace, getting ready to kill myself in case Bonnie failed.

Klaus's scream became louder and more agonizing, but Elijah appeared to finish off what Bonnie started and stood in front of his brother, who was lying weak and vulnerable on the ground. I could hear that Klaus told Elijah that he would kill me too if he killed him and that he was never going to see his siblings again.

I dropped the knife and ran up to them as quick as I could, but as I did Klaus grabbed me and fought to get up on his feet again. He pulled me away even though he was in a lot of pain. I didn't expect him to still have enough energy to do this, but I could feel that the extra energy was something he was draining from me.

"Elijah, do it!" I yelled. "Kill… me."

Klaus chuckled, because he thought that I was still wearing the necklace, but when he felt that it was gone, it was already too late. Elijah had thrown the knife into my heart and I could feel that something inside me was starting to slip away. I was dying.

When Klaus and I dropped to the ground, I fell down next to him and was forced to look him in his eyes as we both were on the brick of dying. Klaus used his remaining powers to reach out for me and only managed to touch my lips before both of us finally died.

* * *

><p>The muffled sound of a man sobbing woke me up. I gasped as I breathed in air, but I shrieked when I saw that I was lying inside a closed coffin – six feet underground. They must have thought that I died and buried me. I tried using my powers to get out, but I was too weak to do anything but scream as loud as I could. I hoped that someone would hear me and just screamed until I didn't have any air left to continue.<p>

However, someone seemed to have heard me, because I could hear the sound of someone digging and yelling for me to hold on. But I was starting to panic, because there wasn't enough air in the coffin. I became light-headed and when I was about to close my eyes again, I suddenly felt bright light hit my face and a figure that looked like Elijah, yanked me out of the coffin and pushed me up to my father, who stood at the top with Troy. I could see a fresh set of tears trickle down my father's cheeks as he tried helping me breathe and inhale the fresh air.

As he did so, I caught something familiar in the air and instinctively, I bit my father in his neck with something that felt like fangs. I didn't mean to bite him or drain him for blood, but I couldn't stop myself and just felt an overwhelming urge to drink. I was pulled away by Elijah, though, and my father, who luckily was still wearing the ring I gave him, dropped to the ground.

"Oh, God! Is she a vampire?" Troy asked, reaching for the side of my dad's neck that wasn't bloody.

He sighed when he couldn't find a pulse, but he saw the ring on his hand and focused on helping me into the shadows instead before I burned up in the sun.

"Rhia, did anyone give you their blood?" Elijah asked worriedly, pinning me to a tree so I couldn't run away and hurt anyone else.

"Klaus… I… He…" I panted, but the pain in my gum was too much for me to bear.

Elijah quickly called someone, but I couldn't hear who it was, because all these new enhanced senses were overwhelming me. My dad woke up again, though, and helped Elijah getting me to the car as fast as possible before the sun burned me up.

They drove me back to the boarding house where Stefan stood ready with a piece of jewelry that I recognized. It had the same blue stone Damon's day ring had and as soon as I got it on, the burning sensation disappeared. But the hunger didn't and I could smell more human blood in the air. Elijah noticed this and led me to the basement cellar where they locked me up with a weak Damon. He was still dying and now that Klaus was dead, I couldn't save him.

"Rhianna!" Damon exclaimed and carefully crawled up to me. He saw the fangs, the red eyes, and the hunger in my eyes and guessed what had happened. "You're a vampire… but what about your powers?"

"I don't-I don't know," I panted and cupped his face in my hands. I could feel his heartbeat pound furiously and it was driving me mad. "Wait! I know! Dri-drink my blood!"

Damon frowned, so I bit my wrist open like I'd seen Klaus do it and forced him to drink. It was just a wild guess, but I thought that since I died with Klaus's blood in my system and since Klaus's blood was the cure then I had the cure too. Damon let go of my wrist and looked at his arm.

It was starting to heal up!

"If you're alive again, then wouldn't that mean that Klaus is it too?" Damon asked, though.

My eyes widened and I turned to Elijah, but he was already gone to find Klaus. Stefan quickly went with him, while I stayed in Damon's embrace and let him calm my enhanced emotions down.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	28. Like A Wild Animal

**A/N: Hii, just felt like updating for the fourth time! :D Yup, my muse is being a perfect angel today ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 28:

"I didn't see a rose from you at my grave…" I said, smiling weakly to Damon, who lay closely next to me, stroking my cheek gently.

Damon had managed to cam my emotions down, but I was still starving for blood. Now I knew how he felt when he was turned and how he somewhat still felt.

"I didn't want to say goodbye and was convinced that I would see you again somewhere else," Damon said. "I tried burning myself to death, but… Saint Stefan stopped me and locked me up."

I sighed weakly and wrapped my arms around Damon's neck, pulling him in for a kiss. The touch of his lips against mine felt so much more… vivid and almost heavenly now. I instinctively pulled Damon closer to me and kissed him hungrily. Seemed like my love for him had also enhanced…

"Klaus is alive," Elijah suddenly said and I pulled away from Damon. "He's still trapped in the tomb where we put him, but he's alive and a hybrid."

Damon and I sighed heavily, but we were relieved that Klaus at least was trapped inside the tomb. He wouldn't be able to hurt anyone and could stay in there, until he starved to death.

"What do we do about Rhianna?" Damon asked. "I mean, have a witch ever turned into a vampire?"

I wanted to know that too, because I was scared that I would either lose all of my powers or go completely crazy if I drank human blood again. I could turn into a monster worse than Klaus.

"For now, we'll let you drink animal blood. I don't think you can handle human blood and you need to control your enhanced senses too," Elijah said. "I'll try asking your mother's family for help in the meantime and in that time, you cannot leave this room. Do you understand?"

I nodded, but stood up and walked up to the door. "Elijah, I know that you want your siblings back and I promise to help you find them here as best as I can from here, but… please find my mom first. I'm scared that the man, who is holding her captive, might kill her if he finds out that Klaus is trapped in the tomb." I said.

Elijah nodded understandingly and handed me a bottle of what smelled like rabbit blood. He then left and I walked back to Damon, who still sat on the floor.

"As much as I don't like Stefan's diet, then I think it's best if you go on it too," Damon said when I sat down next to him. I chuckled softly and tried taking a sip of it. It tasted… strange, but good and I ended up emptying the whole bottle in under a minute. My thirst wasn't satisfied yet, though, and neither was another craving of mine. "You still hungry?"

I nodded eagerly, but blushed too. "Um… did you feel incredible… horny when you turned?" I asked hesitantly.

Damon was silent for a moment, but then he suddenly burst into laughter and made me blush even more. He pulled me in for another passionate kiss, but the burning lust inside me took over and before any of us knew it we were both naked on the floor. I really didn't mean to do it, but I simply couldn't control my senses or emotions. I felt like a wild animal.

There was a point where Elena was on her way down to the cellar, but when she heard me moan Damon's name, she gasped and quickly turned around again, her heart beating furiously of embarrassment. I was embarrassed too, but I didn't stop. I wanted Damon right now and here and no one was going to stop me from it. Damon didn't exactly seem to have a problem with that and just enjoyed every bit of our time together.

"Feeling better now?" Damon asked, pulling his shirt over my half-naked body to warm me.

"Much better." I said, smirking flirtatiously.

I grabbed Damon's pants and threw them to him, because I could hear that someone was coming. He quickly yanked them on just before Stefan returned with more animal blood. Stefan took one glance at us and sighed, shaking his head slightly.

Damon chuckled. "What did you expect?" he teased.

"Well… not _that_, but I have some more blood for Rhianna," Stefan said, handing the bottle to Damon, who passed it on to me. "And a bottle for you even though you don't like animal blood. I mixed it with a little Bourbon, though."

Damon thanked him and took a sip of it, wincing a bit of the weird taste. He was used to human blood, but the Bourbon seemed to help a tad.

"Elena and I will be just in the other room, so yell if you need anything."

After Stefan left, Damon returned to me and took another sip of his bottle, while I was already half-done with mine. He sat down on the ground with me and seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"I'm sorry you turned into a vampire," he said. "I know that you didn't exactly plan to stay 17 for the rest of your life and that it pretty much ruins your college plans."

I sighed and put the lit back on my bottle. "Yeah… but I really don't care about those plans anymore, because I've found new plans and they involve you." I said, trying to smile.

Damon smiled too and put a comforting arm around me. "Well, in that case then there's still that trip around Europe…"

I smiled brighter. "Europe it is then. But I need to learn how to control this thirst for blood first."

"Of course. We wouldn't want you to eat every human in Europe, do we now?"

I chuckled and tugged myself closer to Damon, enjoying the warmth of his skin. Our time alone was interrupted, though, by Elena who had brought some new clothes for me. I caught the scent of her blood in the air, so Damon quickly grabbed the clothes and told Elena to take a step back.

"Thanks," I said and filled my hunger with animal blood instead. "And I'm sorry about earlier when we were…"

I blushed. I couldn't get myself to say it and neither could Elena.

"It's ok. I'm just happy that you're alive and thankful for what you've done. I hope you find your mom soon." Elena said and left too.

Damon handed the clothes to me and I changed, but I still felt like taking a shower after being buried six feet under the ground and turning into a vampire.

"You don't have to stay in here with me," I said, while Damon zipped the back of my blue summer dress. "I know you probably want to get a shower, a proper bed, and–"

Damon swiftly turned me around and pressed me against the wall behind me as his lips crashed with mine. I could tell that that meant that he _wanted_ to stay.

"You really think I'm just going to let you go after spending last night and this morning mourning over your death?" he asked, looking me straight into my eyes with his sky blue ones.

"Of course not, but–"

He placed a finger on my mouth and shushed, and then our lips collided witch each other again. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sensed nothing around me except for Damon. We were completely engrossed in each other that we didn't hear my dad coughing loudly or my uncle say my name, until my uncle suddenly yanked Damon away from me with his powers.

"Whoops!" I said, blushing rapidly. "Um… Hi, Troy. And dad… I'm sorry about what I did."

"It's ok. I deserve it for what I did in the past," my dad said. I walked up to them and could tell that they were worried for me. "While Elijah is looking for your mom, we figured that we would help him find his siblings, but I need to see what you saw in Klaus's head."

"Oh… how are you going to do that?" I asked curiously.

Troy placed his two index fingers and middle fingers on my temples and closed his eyes. "Just relax and think about what you saw. Picture the place in your mind." he answered.

I relaxed, closed my eyes, and pictured the place in my mind. Troy seemed to see it too in his mind and saw the building it was in too.

"Got it." He let go of me and we opened our eyes again.

"We'll get Stefan and then go see if they're still there," my dad said. "But Damon, don't think that that means that you're allowed to fool around with my daughter. I'm _everywhere_."

I laughed and so did my dad and Troy before they left. I turned my gaze back to Damon and signed that I was keeping an eye on him too.

"Your dad is just as strange as you are!" Damon teased and pulled me in for another kiss.

"You should be happy he's not one of those strict dads, who don't let his daughter out of the house after the sun goes down," I said teasingly. "But I'm sure that you would still charm your way to my heart even if I was born in the 19th century with you."

Damon chuckled. "You should definitely have dated me in the 19th century… I might not have been as badass as I am now, but I did know how to charm the ladies."

I snorted. "Yeah, right! I bet you were one of those shy gentlemen who didn't get laid."

"Ouch! You hurt my feelings there. I'm not sure I even want to be your boyfriend anymore. I mean, Andie doesn't hurt my feelings…"

"Hell no!"

Damon chuckled again and slipped his hands around my waist. Just like at the dance, I felt his fingers slip under my dress, but this time I didn't stop him. The lust inside me was taking over again, but I didn't feel like doing it again, so we just ended up French kissing, which seemed to be fine with Damon for now. Then again, just being here with him was fine with both of us.

"Maybe you should start showing me how to control my enhanced senses," I said, pulling a tad away from him. "You be my smoking hot teacher, who gets to kiss me every time you teach me something…"

Damon smirked and started teaching me how to use my enhanced hearing. He told me to focus on sounds outside the cellar and I heard the sound of Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline talking about what had happened to me.

Caroline wanted to help me like Stefan helped her, but Elena suggested that she leaved the teaching to Damon, because she probably worried that Caroline would go to Damon and I while we were… um, _busy_.

Since Damon taught me how to use my enhanced hearing, I gave him a tender kiss, but he still somehow made _my_ heart melt like whenever he kissed me like that.

"Maybe we should just skip the rest of the training and take a 15 minute break?" I asked, feeling unable to control the lust inside me.

Damon flashed a mischievous smirk. "That sounds like a good idea. Especially, since Elena and the others just went to the grill…"

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	29. A Strange Connection

**A/N: Hii, and wow thanks for all the reviews, faves, and alerts I got! :D**

**Since I'm in a really writing mood, then I'll give you one more chapter and maybe chapter 30 too today ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 29:

It was dark outside when Elijah returned and I'd been fast asleep with my head resting on Damon's shoulder, until Damon woke me up. I rubbed my tired eyes and saw that Elijah was standing outside the cellar, but he wasn't alone. Next to him stood a beautiful woman, who looked a lot like me, but of course just older and slightly beaten up. I was so stunned to see her that I didn't know what to say.

Neither did my mom, until she saw Damon next to me.

"Damon Salvatore… First you try seducing me and then you seduce my daughter," my mom said, making Damon actually blush a tad. My mom chuckled and turned her gaze back to me. "Hi, sweetie. I would hug you, but… I heard that you attacked your dad, so I'm staying outside for now."

I blushed, but walked completely up to her and touched her face through the window, just to make sure that she was real. She was and her skin was as soft as I remembered. My mom smiled and it made me tear up faster than I could stop it from happening. I burst into tears and cried much harder than I expected to – probably because my emotions were enhanced now.

However, my mom quickly went inside anyway and sat down on the ground with me, hugging me tightly and comforting me like she used to do so many years ago.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm here and I'm never leaving you again… never. I promise," my mom said and turned her gaze to Damon. "Damon, you can leave for now. I think Rhianna needs some time alone with me right now."

Damon nodded understandingly and Elijah let him out. But before Elijah left with Damon, I quickly got up and stopped him.

"Thank you so much, Elijah," I said, tears trickling down my cheeks in streams. "I mean it. Thank you… I owe you–"

"You owe me nothing, Rhia. Your family has done so much for me." Elijah said.

My eyes widened. "You mean, my dad found…?"

Elijah nodded and left me alone with my mom. I returned to her and just spent the rest of the night talking with her about all the things she'd missed in my life. I told her about all the birthday parties Elijah had held for me, all the times he helped me whenever someone or something made me sad, and I of course had to tell her about how Damon and I met each other.

As much as my mom wasn't too fond of the idea of me being with Damon, then she could tell how much I loved him and that was all what seemed to matter to her. I didn't know how it was possible, but my mom brought the human side of me back and she gave me the power to control my new powers. I used my healing blood to heal all her wounds that the Klaus and the guy, who held her captive, had inflicted on her through the years.

"What are your plans for now?" my mom asked, trying to suppress the fifteen yawn this night.

I didn't blame her for being exhausted, because it was now 4:00 AM and she'd been talking with me for hours instead of resting after being saved by Elijah.

"Well… Damon and I planned to travel through Europe together," I answered, making my mom smile sweetly. "He promised to show me all the great places there."

"That's good. I want you to relax and enjoy your life. You deserve to be happy."

I smiled and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "So do you, mom. And I know for a fact that there's someone here, who never stopped loving you. I think you should go out to him. He's sleeping in the living room right now."

My mom's eyes widened a tad. "You mean…?"

I nodded. "Now go. I'll see you again in the afternoon."

The smile on my mom's lips widened and after hugging me tightly one more time, she called for Damon who took her shift and let her leave. He entered the cellar with a futon and he'd brought pillows and blankets with him as well.

"I thought I might want to sleep on something softer," Damon said, making me frown in confusion. The bed was for _him_? Damon noticed the confusion on my face and chuckled. "Relax, love. You're sleeping on me."

I smiled and crawled under the blanket with Damon, resting my body on his and using his shoulder as my pillow. I fell asleep almost instantly, but I could still hear his muffled voice say "goodnight". I slept peacefully with him for the rest of the early morning and by the time I finally woke up – fully rested, but starving again – I could smell the scent of a normal breakfast in the air and feel that I was no longer sleeping on Damon, but on the futon itself.

"_Bonjour, ma fille chérie_…" I heard my dad say much to my surprise.

I sat up and thanked him as he placed the tray with breakfast in front of me. His hair was all dark hair was all ruffled and he smelled of my mom's scent, so I guessed that they'd spent a lot of time together this morning as I wanted them to. I didn't know if they'd slept together and I didn't want to know either. I just wanted them to be happy.

"And you can cook too! Now that surprises me, because I have no talent whatsoever in the kitchen." I said teasingly, making my dad chuckle.

"Well, that's because I first learned it after you were born," he said and kissed the top of my head. "But how are you feeling? Oh, and I better give you this before you attack me again."

My dad quickly handed me another bottle of animal blood, but he still looked slightly afraid of me after what I did. I didn't know whether to say apologize again or laugh.

"Did you and mom get to catch up?" I asked curiously.

My dad beamed. "Oh, we caught up alright!" he couldn't stop himself from answering.

I turned pale and shook my head. "Dad that was too much information. But thanks for the breakfast."

He apologized and left the cellar again. I could hear him walk up to my mom and whisper a few words in French that sounded sweet. My mom giggled and pulled him in for a kiss. I thought it was very sweet how they could still be in love after 17 years of being apart, but it was kindda my fault they broke up to begin with.

Maybe it was for the better that they broke up, because if they hadn't Klaus might have killed my dad to get his hands on whom he thought was the doppelganger…

"That smells delicious. You are going to share with me, right?" I heard Damon say outside the cellar.

I giggled and shook my head. "Get your own breakfast, vamp!" I teased.

Damon rolled his eyes of me and went inside, yanking the toast from my hand just before I could take a bite of it. I glared icily at him, until he finally gave in and broke the toast in two pieces, so we both got something.

"I know some French too, you know," Damon said, making me raise an eyebrow and snort of disbelief. "You don't believe me? _Je vous aime__plus que tout__dans ce monde__et que vous voulez__vous marier__un jour__…_"

That was actually kindda impressive. I didn't tell that of course, because then Damon would become smug like always.

"What did you say?" I asked curiously instead.

Damon grinned. "That's for me to know and for you to dot, dot, dot!" he answered secretively.

I rolled my eyes this time. "Well, can you at least tell me if it was something sweet?"

"It was," I heard my mom say outside the door. I raised an eyebrow and looked suspiciously at Damon. "But for Damon's sake, then I'll let you learn how to speak and understand French. I think you should find out what he said for yourself."

I groaned, but my mom just chuckled and left again after throwing me a bottle of animal blood. I was actually starting to like it and it wasn't as overwhelming as human blood. Human blood was like… junk food. It was nice to have _sometimes_, but it wasn't healthy to eat it all the time. Not in my situation anyway.

"What are we doing today?" I asked to change the subject.

"Going out hunting," Damon answered with a wide grin on his face. "Stefan and Caroline are going to teach you how to catch bunnies and squirrels. And since I don't want to watch you drink squirrel blood then I'm going to help Elijah making sure that Klaus doesn't get out of the tomb… which reminds me of something. Are you able to use your powers?"

I shrugged, but tried focusing on making my glass of milk levitate. It levitated alright, but it suddenly exploded too and my urge to drink human blood increased. I guessed that this was why there weren't any witches/vampires. They either couldn't control their powers or else the thirst for human blood would get them killed.

"I don't think it's such a good idea that I use my powers…" I said and finished drinking the bottle of rabbit blood faster than Damon could react.

I was still hungry, though, and could smell the scent of human blood from Damon's mouth. Without any warning at all, I instinctively jumped on him and sunk my fangs into his neck so hard that even Damon screamed in pain. He tried getting me off him, but I wouldn't let go. I was like a leech and Damon was my dinner.

However, Stefan seemed to hear all the commotion down here and quickly rushed to help Damon. He pulled me away from him and slammed me into the wall, while Damon healed up. But even Stefan had a hard time holding me one place and it didn't help that I could smell more humans upstairs. I instinctively knocked Stefan and Damon down and then ran quickly out of the cellar with my vampire speed, running towards the nearest human.

Before, I could get my hands on my dad again; my mom quickly used her powers to send me flying right into a wall. I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me or why I couldn't stop myself from flashing my fangs threatening at my own mom, but something was seriously wrong with me.

Luckily, Elijah arrived just in time to stop me before I hurt my mom and pinned me down to the floor, using his weight and strength to hold my body down.

"It's her vampire side," he said to my mom. "It can't work together with her witch side. This is why witches don't become vampires."

My vampire side didn't want to listen to Elijah and I used all my strength to give him an aneurism that not even he could resist. He let go of me and that was all I needed to get away and out of this house. I could hear my parents calling my name and hear that someone had run after me, so I picked up my pace and ran as fast as I could.

But I could hear a familiar voice calling for me and this particular voice, I couldn't ignore. I felt a strange connection to it and before I knew it, I ran towards the voice like a moth to a flame and ended up at the old tomb. And in that tomb was no other than Klaus himself.

My creator.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	30. Neither Angels Nor The Bright Light

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the reviews again and before you read it, then I gotta warn you. It even made me cry, but I promise it's not the end of this story!**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 30:

"Niklaus," I called without knowing why. I knew that this was stupid and dangerous, but I couldn't stop myself from moving the big stone that blocked the entrance away. Klaus appeared, though, and he looked like he'd expected me. "What's happening to me?"

Klaus walked as close as he could to me and flashed one of those mischievous smirks that used to make my heart melt. I wanted to go inside to him, but my witch side told me not to.

"You're not a monster, Rhianna. You're turning into a beautiful creature and showing your true nature," he said and I saw his pupils dilate in a way that sent me into a trance-like state. "I want you to do something for me. I want you to–"

"No!" I suddenly heard a woman scream and I was tackled to the ground by another Original.

This time it was one of Elijah's sisters, who had the same dark shade of hair and eyes like her older brother. I growled at her and fought to get her off me, but she was just as strong as Elijah. I was about to give her an aneurism too, but Elijah arrived much to my annoyance and helped her holding me down. I felt them inject something into my neck and the more I resisted the weaker and more tired I became. I closed my eyes and finally let the darkness take over in my mind.

I didn't know for how long I slept, but when I woke up, I was tied up in the basement cellar again with vervain soaked chains and I could hear the beautiful sound of a woman humming a familiar lullaby. I instinctively tried attacking her, because I could smell that she was human and made her jump back even though the locked door kept me from getting to her anyway.

"I'm sorry, mom…" I said and sat down on the ground, feeling too weak to stand up.

My mom sighed and hesitantly took a step closer to the door. "It's ok, sweetie. I know this isn't you," she said softly and suddenly turned her head to what smelled like a vampire. "Elijah! What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to help her?"

"I'm not sure to be honest," Elijah said. "But we cannot let her out as long as she and Klaus are connected. Call your sisters and brothers and tell them that we need their help."

My mom nodded understandingly and after sending me an apologizing look, she left to call her other siblings. Elijah stayed and he'd brought something with him. It was an old bottle with something inside that I couldn't smell what was. All I knew that it was some sort of elixir.

"This elixir… It was meant to resurrect Katherine 500 years ago," he said. "I don't know if it can help you when you're already a vampire, but we need to try everything."

He poured the elixir in a bottle of animal blood and tossed it inside to me. I didn't touch it at first, because my vampire side wanted to stay this way. But my vampire side was too weak right now to resist, so I opened the bottle and emptied its content. I could feel something change inside me.

I couldn't describe what it was, but I suddenly felt a burning pain inside my chest that was almost too unbearable for me to handle. I let out a loud and deafening scream, but then the pain suddenly stopped and I started convulsing instead.

Elijah hurried inside to me, but when he touched me I stopped convulsing and passed out. I didn't know if I died or if the elixir worked, but I felt like my eyelids were as heavy as cannonballs. I couldn't even sense my body anymore. It felt like my soul was just drifting somewhere in the dark without my body and looking for someone or something special.

Klaus appeared in my mind and reached out for me, but before I could touch him, my attention was suddenly taken away by Damon. He stood in the other side of the darkness and was waiting for me. I followed my heart and went to him, which made Klaus groan loudly and disappear. I reached for Damon's extended hand and he took me into a bright light that appeared behind him.

When we entered the light, we dumped down somewhere else – somewhere bright, warm, and sunny. I rubbed my eyes for a moment to get used to the light and saw that we were at a beach. We were all alone there, but there was still seagulls and washed up jellyfishes. I felt something flowing in the wind and looked down at my body. I was dressed in a beautiful, white summer dress and my feet were bare.

"Why does this look so familiar?" I asked without removing my eyes from the beautiful, blue sea.

I felt strong arms wrap around my waist and Damon rested his head on my shoulder. He was awfully quiet at first, which made me fear that I either was dying or about to be killed by Damon like when he killed Rose to put her out of her misery.

"Your mother took you here on your first birthday," Damon said softly. "I thought that you might want to see it again."

"Before you drive a stake through my heart like you did with Rose?"

Damon didn't let go of me, but he didn't say anything either. He just tightened his arms around me and breathed calmly. So he was going to kill me and put me out of my miseries. I didn't want to die, but I just wanted to stay here with Damon for all of our eternity.

"Rhianna, you… you're already dying," he said and I could hear that he was trying to suppress a sob. I'd never seen Damon cry before and I didn't want him to start now, so I turned around and cupped his face in my hands. "Your body can't handle your vampire and witch side. Elijah tried… helping you, but… your body only began shutting down faster."

Oh… I sighed and wrapped my arms around Damon, just listening to the sound of his heartbeat. I really didn't want to let go of him and just die like that after everything we'd been through. It wasn't fair. I had plans with Damon, with my parents, and with my friends and now I was just going to die.

"Don't leave me," I said. "I want you to stay… until it happens."

Damon took me up into his arms and carried me away from the sea to a spot where there were two towels and a picnic basket on the sand. He placed me on one of the towels and took off his shirt, then took out a couple of things from the basket – a bottle of Bourbon and a fine risotto with lobster.

"What is all this?" I asked confusedly.

"Well, I remembered that I never took you on a proper first date, so…" Damon answered poured up two glasses with Bourbon, while I removed the cling film from of our plates. "You like it?"

I nodded and for a moment I actually forgot that I was dying. I tried forgetting it again and just enjoyed my first date with Damon. It was nice to sit with him all alone at a beach and just enjoy the view of the sunset and the glistening blue sea.

"Mm… this risotto tastes delicious! Did you make it?"

Damon chuckled. "Yes, of course. You could have tasted it a lot earlier if you hadn't exploded it in my face a long time ago."

I laughed of that memory. I remembered very clearly that day when Damon showed up at the welcoming dinner and annoyed me on purpose, because he knew that I wasn't normal.

"Sorry, but you had it coming. You burned my hand!"

Damon rolled his eyes and took a swig of his glass. "You know why I asked you of all those things when I slept at your place?"

He was looking out towards the sea now and seemed thoughtful. It was very rarely I saw Damon worry about anything. He always managed to hide his worries and seemed like he always had things under control. I envied him for that and wished that I could be as courageous as he was.

"Why did you ask me all those questions?" I asked curiously.

Damon finally looked at me and smiled kindly. "I asked because I liked you, but I didn't want to make the same mistake I did with Elena. You know how I was before I met you." he answered.

Oh, I knew alright. But there was still something I needed to know before I… passed away. "And what about what you said to me in French in the cellar?"

He put his arm around me and kissed me gently on my cheek, and then whispered into my ear. "I love you more than anything in this world and… I _wanted_ to marry you some day."

I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. I also wanted to say something, but I couldn't do that either. So I did the only thing I could do and kissed him. Damon made the plates and drinks disappear and rolled me under him before he kissed me back. I could feel something wet on my face, but it wasn't my tears.

It was Damon's.

His breath was hot against my cheek as his kisses trailed down my jaw and he buried his fingers in my hair. When his lips returned to mine, he kissed me even deeper than before and moved one of his hands to the hem of my dress. I felt his hand move the dress up my thigh and used my own hands to unbutton his pants.

I rolled him back under me and pulled my dress off, and then began kissing him softly from his stomach and back up to his lips. I buried my fingers in his wonderful hair and enjoyed the feeling of being so close to him.

When the last pieces of fabric were removed from our bodies, we made sweet and passionate love. I didn't want to die, but a part of me felt ready. But I still had some time left, so when Damon and I were resting next to each other in the sand, I got up and forced Damon to stand up too.

"What now?" he asked, grinning weakly.

"I want to have a race," I answered, smiling brightly. "The last one to jump into the water has to- hey! That's cheating!"

I ran after Damon, who was already running towards the water and managed to catch up with him when he fell in the sand. We ran next to each other, laughing and pushing each other down. But I jumped into the water first and when I did so, everything turned dark. It didn't take a genius to guess what happened. I finally died.

Maybe it was bound to happen at some point in my young life. There had been so many times where the ring had brought me back to life and one time where even vampire blood in my system brought me back. Or maybe it was just Karma telling me that I had to suffer for the mistakes Avelina made many years ago when she broke Klaus's heart. Whatever it was, then my life would officially be over and there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it.

The only thing I could do now was to wait patiently in the darkness for something to happen. I was hoping that the whole thing about people going to heaven when they died was true or that I would at least see that notorious bright light that took you to the afterlife.

However, neither angels nor the bright light appeared and when you were sitting somewhere in the darkness without a watch on you, then a few minutes were starting to feel like eternity to you. I couldn't tell if a week had already passed by the living's world or if the time was the same here and I'd only been officially dead for less than five minutes.

"_Rhianna Magdalena De Sauveterre…_" I suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice say. It sounded like an echo and I was tempted to yell something to check if I was in some sort of hole or cave. "_Take my hand._"

What? Which hand? I looked confusedly around, but saw nothing but darkness. Maybe I was imagining this. I stood up and reached out and to my surprise, I felt someone grab my hand. It was the hand of an unknown woman and a bright light appeared behind her dark silhouette.

I looked up at the woman and saw an older version of myself standing in front of me.

Avelina.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	31. Too Weak To Do Anything

**A/N: Hii, here's another lovely chapter for my lovely readers! Thanks for the quick reviews! :D**

**I'm not sure if I'll be able to update tomorrow, though, because it seems I'm starting to ruining my eyes by spending so much time in front of the computer (so much worth it, though! xD) and my eyes therefore need to rest much to my irritation.**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 31:

Something wet touched my cheek or more likely _licked_ my cheek. My eyes immediately fluttered open and I coughed something up that tasted like dirt. Something was nudging my elbow and I didn't realize what it was, until it suddenly began growling. I turned my head to the dark gray wolf next to me and saw that we were both covered in dirt. The wolf mostly had dirt on its paws, while I was covered in dirt everywhere. I tried standing up, but my legs felt like jell-o and went down under me.

The gray wolf nudged on my legs now and tried helping me up. It let me put my arm around its head and pushed me up near a tree that I could hold on to. I held a tight grip around a thick branch and moved my gaze up towards the dark sky. The stars were glowing beautifully tonight and so was the full moon. I had a hard time taking my eyes away from the moon at first, but the wolf took my attention away from the moon when it suddenly began howling loud and clearly.

Other wolves began howling far away from here, but their howls were different from this one's. I could hear the sound of wolves running towards me and soon found out that they weren't normal wolves, but a flock of werewolves. The biggest one of them let me sit on its back and they all took me to a nearby river before they left me again. I sat at the banks of the river and washed my dirty body.

My body was sore everywhere and every move I made hurt immensely. It felt like I'd stayed outside in the sun for too long and had been sunburned. But the wolf from before came to assist me and there was something about it that seemed familiar. It reminded me of someone I'd seen not so long ago.

When my body was somewhat clean, I tried practicing walking without any luck at first. However, the more I practiced, the more I was able to walk and when I was able to walk without falling, I began walking towards the nearest civilization. I didn't know for how long I walked, but I ended up in a town I felt like I'd been at before. I kept walking, until I reached a place named the Mystic Grill. I entered the grill and looked around without really knowing why. I just felt like I needed to find someone or something in here. Something that had disappeared from me.

"Excuse me, but are you… alright?" someone asked.

I turned to a young waitress and saw that she was looking at my soaking wet blue dress and body. I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn't.

"OMG! Rhianna!" someone else yelled and I turned to the three teenage girls, who ran to me as fast as they could. They looked familiar, but I couldn't put a name on their faces. "It's ok, Olivia. We'll help her, but-um could you call for an ambulance?"

I looked at the blond-haired girl who'd spoken and suddenly felt my legs tremble under me. I fell to the floor, but I was still wide awake. E

"How is this possible? I mean, she…she died, didn't she? Damon said himself!" a girl with dark-brown hair and light skin said.

"I think she's in some sort of shock," the girl with a darker shade of dark brown hair and light-brown skin said. "We should definitely get her to a hospital!"

"The ambulance is on its way," the waitress said. "You sure there's nothing I can do to help?"

The blond-haired girl told the waitress to bring some water and that she did. They helped me sit up, so I could drink the water, but I coughed it up again along with more dirt. But the ambulance eventually arrived and the paramedics chose to take me to a hospital, because I couldn't answer any of their questions and because I was hurt.

At the hospital they cleaned the wounds on my legs, checked my state of mind, and asked me a few more questions I couldn't answer. After checking me, they left me to rest alone in the hospital room and denied the three girls to enter, unless they were related to me. I didn't care if they entered or not, because I didn't know who they were or why they called me "Rhianna". The name didn't sound the slightest way familiar to me.

"_But we just want to talk with her for two minutes!_" one of them said.

"_I'm sorry, but–"_

"_Let me take care of this… You will let us in without asking any questions._ Got it?" another one of them said.

The door opened and I saw the three girls enter the room. I lay still in the bed and kept my eyes closed even though I couldn't fall asleep. I just wanted to be alone and have some peace and quiet.

"Did you call Damon or is he still on a bender?" the third one asked the girl with dark brown hair and light skin.

"I did, but he didn't want to listen to me. Stefan and her parents are on their way, though."

Parents? I opened my eyes and looked at them. They all looked so worried and like they knew me. Maybe I was this "Rhianna". I tried saying something, but ended up coughing instead.

"Rhia, do you remember us? And what happened to you?" the blond-haired girl asked worriedly.

I shook my head, so she introduced herself and the others. Her name was Caroline and the others were Elena and Bonnie. They told me that they were my friends and that I died almost a month ago. I had a very hard time believing them, because people didn't just die and then returned from the dead almost a month later.

"Leave," I said hoarsely, not wanting to listen to more of this nonsense. "_Now_!"

They reluctantly left and let me rest alone. I didn't rest that much and stepped out of the bed after spending a total of only 35 minutes in it and tried making my way to the window. I wanted to look up at the beautiful stars, because there was something about them that calmed my nerves.

"Rhianna! Oh, God! I can't believe that you're alive!" I heard a woman exclaim.

I turned to her and was immediately hugged by her. I didn't get to take a proper look at her, but when I did I could see tears trickling down her cheeks in heavy streams and she acted like a mom, who had just found her long lost daughter.

"Rhia, it's me. Your mom. Don't you remember me?" she asked worriedly.

I tried remembering her, but I couldn't and ended up shaking my head much to her disappointment. She began crying even more, so her husband or boyfriend went to comfort her. But I was left alone for the rest of the night and slept for a couple of hours without being disturbed, until the sheriff came and talked with me about what had happened. I didn't tell them about the girls or about what they had told me, because I thought that they might find the girls crazy like I did.

However, a man who claimed that he was my legal guardian, arrived at the hospital and he confirmed that my name was Rhianna. They let him inside my room and left, so I could talk with him alone, and the minute he walked in to my room, I knew exactly who he was.

"Lord Elijah! What happened to your hair?" I asked and couldn't stop myself from laughing.

Elijah seemed serious, though, and became worried too when he heard what I said. But he sat down at my bed and cupped my face in his hands, forcing me to look him into his eyes.

"Avelina?" he said hesitantly.

I nodded, remembering clearly that _that_ was my real name. I only seemed to have confirmed his suspicion and he sighed heavily.

"What are you doing in Rhianna's body? You don't belong in this time…"

I shrugged. "Well, what year is it?" I asked.

"2011. It's almost a thousand years since you died." Elijah answered.

"Oh…" I sighed and tried remembering what exactly had happened. "I… I tried helping her. The sixth doppelganger. She… she didn't want to die, so I used all my and her magic to resurrect her. But… it seems something went wrong. I think she's not ready to come back yet."

Elijah nodded understandingly and sighed too. "Lina, do you have any of your powers left?"

I shrugged again. I truly didn't know. Right now I was still too weak to do anything other than sit, eat, drink, and rest.

"Is Niklaus still alive or…?"

"He's dead. I'm sorry. I know that you loved him very much. Klaus changed immensely after he killed you and before he broke the curse you cast upon him, he–"

"He-what?" I exclaimed.

"It's a long story, but he broke the curse and before he did that, he connected him and Rhianna. Rhianna tried killing him by letting herself be killed with his blood in his system and she turned into a vampire." Elijah said calmly.

"And then she died because she couldn't handle it."

Elijah nodded and I tried thinking of a way to fix this. I didn't remember much of the day when I cursed Klaus, because I'd spent such a long time watching over my doppelgangers, but now that I knew all of this, I also recognized one of the girls, who came to me. Elena must be the doppelganger to the girl I sacrificed when I cursed Klaus…

"You don't happen to be in possession of The Tear of Raziel, don't you?" I asked.

Elijah nodded, though, much to my surprise. "It's at… um, it's better if you don't go there. You see, Rhianna was deeply in love with a vampire named Damon Salvatore and she died in his arms. He never really got over the loss. But I'll bring the necklace to you as fast as I can. Is there anything else you need?"

I nodded. "A witch who is powerful enough to use it. If she can unlock the part of Rhianna that is dormant, then she'll become herself again and I'll become dormant instead."

"Of course."

Elijah went to leave, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "If it matters, then your new hair style really suits you."

He chuckled, gave me a kiss on the top of my head, and left. I stayed in the bed and waited patiently for him to return with the necklace and a powerful witch. While he was gone, I tried using my powers, but the only thing I got from focusing on certain items was a horrible headache.

A part of me was still stunned by the fact that I'd been dormant for almost 1000 years and then I suddenly took over the body of one of my doppelgangers by accident. I felt bad for causing so many problems to Rhianna's parents, friends, and hopefully not also her grieving boyfriend. I only wanted to give her another chance to correct, what was in the end, really my mistakes.

Now I just hoped that I could fix all of this and get her back properly, so she could continue living her life with all the people that loved and cared about her. She definitely seemed to have been loved and I remembered seeing how lonely she was before she came to Mystic Falls.

Rhianna was just like the daughter I protected by saying yes to curse Klaus…

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	32. Perfect Fit

**A/N: Hii, my eyes are still pretty shitty, but I can't leave my computer alone. I'm an addict to writing! xD**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews and enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 32:

Elijah returned with Rhianna's mother and The Tear of Raziel. Victoria was still upset to see her daughter alive, but she tried calming down so she could help her daughter take over her body again. I told her to put the necklace on, close her eyes, and lowered the barriers in Rhianna's mind, allowing Victoria to enter my mind and search for her daughter. I even lowered my own barriers and let her see what made me take the choice I took many years ago.

Klaus and I were deeply in love even before I was arranged to marry a very wealthy landowner that not even he dared to cross since the man was a powerful warlock. My husband found out about my affair with Klaus, but he did not send me to be killed or became furious. He merely told me to choose between our daughter and Klaus and I chose my daughter, because I loved her more than him.

"_I'm scared_," I could hear Rhianna say somewhere in my mind. "_What if this is all a dream? What if I'm not really alive?_"

I could feel how nervous Rhianna was. It _was_ verytraumatizing to die and then be resurrected the way she was. I didn't blame her for being scared and just tried reminding her that if she held on to her love for Damon, then nothing would seem frightening to her anymore.

"_Are yo_u _ready_,_ Rhia?_" I asked her.

"_Um… yeah. I think so._" Rhianna answered.

I took a deep breath and as I did I allowed myself to change position with Rhianna. She hesitated a bit, but she eventually took the extra step and pushed through the gap her mother had made. I wished her good luck before I disappeared to the back of her mind – the place where I would once again become what she thought was her instincts and common sense...

"Rhianna?" my mom said as she let go of me.

"Yes?" I said and saw tears trickle down her cheeks.

She hugged me so tightly that I thought she was going to break my bones and almost couldn't breathe. My mom noticed this, let go of me, and apologized but only to hug me again in a less suffocating way. I hugged her too and felt my own tears trickle down my cheeks. I couldn't believe that I was back. I'd been so prepared to die and thought that I would never see her face again, but Avelina saved me and I owed her everything for doing so.

"Where's Damon?" I asked worriedly, looking confusedly around in the quiet room.

"Oh, um… Rhia, there's something I need to tell you about Damon…" my mom answered hesitantly and sat down next to me on the bed. "After you died in his arms, he completely shut down. He stayed inside his bedroom for three days, refusing to believe that you died. But when you didn't wake up, he left the house and buried you at the ruins of his old home next to his mother's grave. After that he went on a bender and taken his rage out on everything and everyone. He mostly blames Elijah for your death and... a week ago he just vanished. We don't know where he went, but Stefan thinks he's nearby your dad's home."

It broke my heart to hear that, because I loved Damon so much and didn't want him to feel all that pain. So I left the hospital with my mom, grabbed a quick shower and clean clothes, and then got a ride of Stefan and Elena, who told me about how heartbroken Damon had been. He'd even tried to let himself burn up in the sun a couple of times and they'd tried to lock him up in the basement cellar, but he somehow got out a week ago and then left town.

When we got to the small town my dad lived in, I told them to drop me off at a particular bar nearby my dad's home and went inside to check if Damon was in there. I still remembered our drinking game there, how we spent the night at a motel where Damon told me in a slightly confusing way that he was in love with me, and how I realized that I was in love with him too.

I looked around in the bar, but Damon wasn't there. I went up to the bartender and asked him if he'd seen Damon and he said that Damon went to a nearby strip club with two blond-haired girls.

Lovely, Damon. That was just… lovely.

I sighed heavily and went back to the car where Elena and Stefan were waiting anxiously. "He's not there," I said. "According to the bartender he went to a nearby strip club."

"Oh… well then let's go," Elena said without any hesitation. I nodded and got back inside Stefan's car. "Don't worry, Rhia. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

I sure hoped he hadn't forgotten about me. I knew that the girls must have been a distraction for him, but I would become pissed if he'd slept with a dozen of women while I was dead. We eventually got to the strip club and I could see that Damon was in there, getting a lapdance by a brunette with the body of a model.

Since the entrance was too crowded for Stefan to use compulsion without being caught doing it, I went inside the back entrance instead and grabbed the stripper clothes in the strippers' dressing room and tried fitting in with them. I felt very uncomfortable going out to all those pervy men, but hell – I would do just about anything to get Damon back.

I hesitantly went out to the crowd of men and saw that the stripper was still seducing Damon. I walked up to them and poked her on her back, which made her turn her masked face to me and send me a catty glare.

"Leave or I'll break those pretty nails of yours," I said in a way that made her get off him and leave. Damon turned to me, but he didn't recognize me, because I was wearing a mask too. "Does your girlfriend know that you're here?"

Damon frowned, but chuckled dryly. "My girlfriend is dead, but shouldn't you rather be dancing for me than scolding me for being here?" he asked.

I tried copying some of the dirty dance moves the other strippers did, so I could spend a little more time talking with him. I wanted to know how he could go to a place like this as if I meant nothing to him. Wasn't this the same Damon who said that he didn't want to live if I died?

"Let me guess… you're new here, aren't you?" he asked, watching me dance.

"So? You want a dance or not?" I answered, making him chuckle and hand me 100 $.

I was so going to keep those…

"That was about time you gave me those tips…"

Damon frowned, not really understanding what I meant, but then I sat down on his lap and kissed him much to his surprise. He seemed like he recognized my lips and he removed the mask from my face to check something. His suspicion was confirmed and he looked at me – completely speechless and unable to move.

"You're not dreaming. I'm real. I came back for you," I said, stroking his cheek gently. "Say something, Damon."

At first Damon's lips only parted, but then he suddenly took off with me in a blur and we ended up at the top of a hill with the view to Mystic Falls and this town. I was still wearing my sparkly red outfit, so he took off his jacket and put it on me. He still didn't say anything, though, but just looked at me with a frustrated and confused facial expression.

"How?" was all he managed saying.

"Avelina. She used all her and my magic to get me back," I said and took his hands in mine. "I know that it's the second time you've buried me, but… I promise I won't leave you again. I–"

"Rhianna, you died in my arms… you…" Damon looked away and I could see that it broke his heart to see me alive again.

"You want me to leave?" I asked softly.

He looked back at me and suddenly hugged me tightly. I could feel his heart beating pounding hard against his chest and felt my own pound hard against mine.

"Rhia, please tell me the truth. Tell me that you really are… alive and not just another hallucination." Damon said pleadingly.

I smiled weakly. "I'm alive, Damon. I'm not a hallucination. If I were, then I would probably be naked and covered in whip cream instead of wearing this." I said teasingly.

Damon chuckled and cupped my face in his hands before pressing his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back passionately. I wanted to touch every inch of him and feel him close to me. It felt like forever since I'd last seen him and his hair had grown a tad longer, but he still looked ridiculous hot as always.

"Why do you smell like dirt and wet dog?" Damon suddenly asked.

I blushed. "That's your own fault. You buried me in the woods and a pack of wolves dug me up," I answered. "Now can we please go back, so I can take another shower or something? I'm about to freeze to death out here."

Damon nodded, took me up into his arms, and ran all the way back to Mystic Falls with me. What would take about one and a half hour to Stefan and Elena only took a half hour to Damon. But when we got back to the house, I could see that my mom and Elijah definitely weren't kidding when they said that Damon didn't take the loss well. The whole house was a mess and it looked like a 3 World War had been going on in his bedroom.

"I'm sorry about the mess," Damon said, scratching his head a bit. "I… missed you. A lot."

"Yeah, I can see that!" I teased and gave him another kiss.

While Damon cleaned the house, I sent a text to Stefan and Elena and told them to return, and then took a nice long bath. Damon joined me after about half an hour and looked pretty exhausted. He took off his clothes and got in the tub too.

"You haven't slept with anyone while I was dead, have you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Surprisingly, no. You've annoyingly enough _changed_ me in that department," Damon said. I chuckled and wrapped my arms around him. I let him slip his arms around me and enjoyed the closeness. "I never thought that I would have to admit this, but… I truly can't live without you. You… you're… please don't make me say it."

I giggled and kissed him passionately. I felt the same way about Damon. He was my everything and as cheesy as it sounded, then he was my perfect fit too – heart, body, mind, and soul.

"I love you, Damon Salvatore. Oh, and I believe that I should say happy birthday too, right? I'm sorry I missed you birthday last week." I said.

"I love you too, Rhianna, but don't think that you don't have to give me a present. Death isn't an excuse to get out of it." Damon said.

I sighed, but gave in and gave him a kiss he was never going to forget. I was thankful to get back to him and enjoyed every minute with him. I was never going to take anything for granted, but there was still one single thing that I wanted to do now that I was back. I wanted to continue my plan and travel around in Europe with Damon. I didn't care if I'd lost all of my powers.

I just wanted to be with him.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	33. Anna

**A/N: Hii, I know I should be resting my eyes, but you know how it feels when you have all those ideas in your head and just NEED to write them down! xD**

**So thanks for the reviews and enjoy! :D**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 33:

To everyone's "surprise" Damon and I stayed in his bedroom almost all day, but not of the reasons they thought… well, not completely. We did have a bit of fun under the covers in the afternoon, but other than that we just spent time having normal fun and planned the trip to Europe.

My parents didn't want me and Damon to go alone since my powers still weren't showing, so – much to Damon's dismay – we invited Stefan and Elena along. They'd wanted to go on a long vacation to Europe too, so why not go together?

"I have an idea," Damon said, making me look up from my laptop. "We leave the lovebirds in Paris and run off to Amsterdam."

I rolled my eyes for what felt like the tenth time today. He'd been trying to find a way to get rid of Elena and Stefan on our trip, because he much rather wanted to go on a vacation alone with me.

"You're unbelievable, Damon!" I said.

Damon flashed a smug smirk. "I know!"

I shook my head of him, but giggled when I felt him kiss me on my cheek before he went downstairs. Not even five minutes passed by before he returned with a quick dinner for the both of us. I heard my dad yell downstairs and guessed that he'd stolen the dinner my dad had just made.

"Did you just steal my dad's dinner?" I asked.

Damon looked away, trying hard not to laugh. "No, of course not. I just… borrowed it without asking…" he said, winking at me and handing me a plate. "Aw, c'mon! Don't look at me like that."

"I'll look at you like whatever I want to!" I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed.

Damon narrowed his eyes at me and I could see that his pupils were starting to dilate. "You will sleep with me later."

I snorted. "Damon, you do know that I'm wearing my bracelet, don't you?"

He nodded and I couldn't stop myself from laughing. He was so… unbelievable – but in a good way. "Okay fine, but only if you behave!"

"I won't. It's not in my nature to behave."

"That's a shame... Guess you won't get lucky tonight then!"

Damon's eyes widened, making me laugh again. He was so much fun to tease and became worried whenever I refused to sleep with him. But we finished eating our dinner and continued looking for places to stay when we visited the different countries. We were planning to start in Dublin, then to Paris, Rome, Barcelona, and at last to New York before we head back to Mystic Falls. We had already gotten my grandparents (my dad's parents) permission to stay at their home in Paris and at their summer house in Barcelona, but we needed to book a hotel in Dublin, Rome, and New York.

"You know which place I'm looking most forward to go to?" Damon asked.

"Um… I'm guessing Barcelona, because it's so warm there that I'm probably forced to wear a bikini?" I guessed.

Damon smirked. "Well, yeah of course you have to do that, but no, that's not the place I'm referring to. I'm referring to Dublin. You'll know why when we get there."

I narrowed my eyes at Damon and looked suspiciously at him. I hated whenever he was keeping secrets from me or being secretive. I put my laptop down and crawl on top of Damon, hoping to seduce him into telling the truth about why he preferred Dublin.

"I'm not telling you anything. No amount of sex will make me ruin the surprise…" Damon said.

"Aw, c'mon! You know I _really, really, _dislike secrets!" I complained.

Damon flashed one of those wonderful smirks of his and rolled me under him. He looked at me for a long time like he'd done the day I died and I smiled because I knew what it meant. I had the badass eternal stud under my spell, but he was still badass and a stud. He was just my badass stud now.

"Let's make a deal," he said. "If you somehow manage to wait – which I find very unlikely – then I'll give you something you'll never forget. Deal?"

I thought a bit about that, but eventually gave in and pulled him in for a kiss before saying "yes". He chuckled when I began unbuttoning his shirt, but we were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on our door. Damon groaned and looked down at me.

"I'm sorry, Damon, but that's just what you get for stealing my dad's dinner," I said and stepped out of the bed to open the door. He rolled his eyes and grabbed my laptop, while I opened the door and let my mom and her younger sister Irena inside. "Hi, Irena! What are you doing here in Mystic Falls?"

Irena, who was only 23 and still a bit of a party girl, took a look around in Damon's bedroom and gasped at the sight of his king-size bed.

"Oh, my God! That's huge!" she exclaimed.

I chuckled. I hadn't met Irena face to face before, but my mom had told me a lot about her and she had always been very fun-loving, exuberant, and maybe a bit of a troublemaker too.

"And it's very comfortable too!" Damon said, making me blush.

Irena giggled and turned her attention back to me. "Sorry, I heard that you were dating Damon Salvatore and had to check it out for myself. And I've also been in town ever since you… you know," she said and shrugged. I shrugged too. "Anyway! I thought that we could have a girl night all four of us and try getting your powers back."

"All four?" I repeated confusedly.

Irena nodded and whispered discretely, while my mom was distracted by Damon's bedroom too. "I have another older sister. Her name is Rhiannon, but between you and me then she and your mom aren't exactly best friends anymore. After your mom got pregnant, they kindda drifted apart. Don't tell her that I invited her, though, or that I told you this."

I nodded understandingly and looked towards Damon, who of course had heard everything. But before I could say anything, we suddenly heard the doorbell ring and Irena quickly whispered that it was Rhianna. I was kindda surprised that my mom had named me after her older sister, but when my mom told me about her older sister, she called her "Anna" and didn't tell me about what happened between them after I was born.

"That must be Anna," my mom said, sounding slightly displeased. "We better get downstairs."

I gave Damon a quick kiss and a promise of returning to him later tonight, and then went downstairs with my mom and aunt to let my other aunt in. My aunt Anna was a redhead too (of course), but her green eyes were a shade paler than mine and she was of course also older than my mom, who was the second oldest in the flock. Anna seemed slightly surprised to see how much I looked like my mom, but I also reminded her of why she and my mom became enemies.

"Hi, Aunt Anna! I'm glad you came," I said when none of the three sisters said anything. "I'm Rhianna. Thank you for coming."

Anna's eyes widened a bit, because she clearly didn't expect her younger sister to name her first born daughter after her. But she entered the house and gave me a hug before walking with us to the living room where my mom and Aunt Irena had put up candle lights, bowls with water and dirt, and a few ingredients that usually helped witches channelizing power.

"Victoria, may I please have a word with you before we begin?" Anna asked.

Irena and I looked instantly at the two older sisters and saw the tension between them. But my mom nodded and went in to the kitchen with Anna. We soon followed them and stood just outside the kitchen, so we could eavesdrop on the conversation.

"_You named her Rhianna?_" Anna asked curiously.

"_Yes, I did… Do you like it?_" my mom answered hesitantly.

Anna sighed. "_I don't know. That really depends on why you named her after me._"

My mom shrugged. "_I just… thought it would make you happy. You know, after I left home and… had her anyway…_"

"_Oh… Well, in that case… thank you,_" Anna was silent for a few minutes, but then she opened her mouth to speak again. "_She's very beautiful. She reminds me of you – before you became pregnant, that is. I can't believe that she managed to stop Klaus, that Lémieux boy, and came back from the dead._"

"_Yeah, well she couldn't have done it without your courage and selflessness. And of course without her boyfriend Damon Salvatore_."

"_Damon Salvatore? You got to be kidding me! Is she really dating him?_"

I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Damon seemed to have that affect on just about everyone in my family. But I was happy that Anna wasn't angry with my mom anymore and that they finally got to work things out. Sisters shouldn't hate each other.

"_I'm sorry, but it's true,_" my mom said. "_But in Damon's defense, then he really seems to love her. He's taking her on a trip through Europe this summer. Isn't that romantic?_"

Aunt Anna snorted. "_The day Damon Salvatore is being romantic and in love, is the day when hell freezes over! Sorry, sis, but I simply don't believe that_ _that vampire is able to love – let alone have a serious relationship with her. You sure he isn't just using her for personal gain or something?_" she asked.

"Ah, Anna! Nice to see you – again," I suddenly heard Damon say as he passed Irena and I without revealing that we were eavesdropping on them. I couldn't believe that Damon had met my aunt too and feared how they were introduced to each other. "_Such a pleasure to see you like always! How is your fiancé Garrett by the way?_"

"_My husband is fine, thank you. But I can't say that it's a pleasure to see you too after how you almost broke Garrett and me up._" Anna said.

I couldn't take it anymore. I went inside to them and slapped Damon one while he was laughing of the memory.

"Hey! What was that for?" he asked confusedly, rubbing his red cheek.

"That's for hitting on both my mom and my aunt, you perv!" I answered, feeling actually pissed off.

Damon sighed and turned towards my mom and aunt as I was on my way to leave again. "She'll come around. But I guess we're even know, right Anna?"

"_Hell no! We're first even when I get to kick you between your–"_

I didn't hear the last part my aunt said, but I could guess myway to what she was about to say and wanted to do the exact same thing. I was fine with Damon hitting on my mom once, but my aunt too?

That was just wrong!

**Oh, what are we going to do with Damon? xD Thanks for reading and please review!**


	34. Mr Perfect

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the reviews! I finally found out why my eyes are so messed up lately and luckily it isn't anything serious, so I'll still be able to write chapters! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoox Ascha**

**Btw, I'm not quite sure when this story is supposed to end yet, but this might be the second last chapter. The 35th chapter will be extra-extra long, so keep an eye out for that too, but I don't know when I'll upload it since I'm going out shopping tomorrow... :/ **

Chapter 34:

"How long are you going to sit there and pout?" Damon asked, sitting down next to me on the bench in his backyard.

When I didn't answer Damon's question, he leaned in to me and gave me a kiss on my neck that tickled a bit. I fought hard to resist the urge to smile and folded my arms stubbornly. I wasn't going to let Damon go that easily.

How many other women had he hit on?

How many of the women were we going to meet?

"Rhianna!" Damon groaned, so I glared venomously at him.

"Don't _'Rhianna_' me! I can't believe you! First you hit on my mom and then my aunt too? What's wrong with you?" I snapped.

Damon sighed and slipped his arm around me. I wanted to push him away, but I didn't. I liked being close to him and had missed him so much in those four weeks.

"Listen, I'm sorry about hitting on both of them, but it was a long time ago and they happened to be at the same place the time I met them. Your aunt was looking for your mom after that your mom had rejected me and I tried seducing your aunt too since I wasn't that lucky with your mom. In the end they both rejected me, Anna's fiancé did almost break up with her because of it, but they married now and happy." Damon said.

I looked at him and wondered if he had told the whole truth or was keeping something from me. It didn't look like it, so I sighed and stopped pouting.

"So you didn't sleep with them or anything?" I asked worriedly.

"No, I didn't. I didn't even get to touch their bo–"

"Okay, too much information!" I quickly interrupted, making Damon chuckle. "You're a man-whore; you do know that, right?"

Damon smirked. Of course he knew that, but he didn't care. Well, at least not before he met me. I shook my head of him, but gave him a tender kiss that left me wanting for more of him. But I still had to get my powers back, so I left Damon and went back inside to my mom and aunts.

"Please tell me that you broke up with him, right?" Anna asked almost pleadingly.

I chuckled. "Sorry, no I didn't. But don't worry – I'll punish him later." I answered and sat down with them on the living room floor.

Irena laughed of that, while my mom merely smiled and Anna sighed. We made a circle, lit the candles, and began chanting out the ancient words. I could feel the powers that dwelled inside me and felt how they were almost buzzing around somewhere in my soul.

I took in a deep breath and tried releasing the hidden powers inside me as I exhaled. I embraced the powers and smiled of the wonderful, familiar feeling. It was like greeting an old friend you'd missed very much. And as I opened my eyes, I could see that all the lights in the house was flickering – even the candle lights flared up – and the water in the bowls was boiling.

"You did perfectly, Rhianna," Anna said, looking around at the lights. "How do you feel?"

I smiled brighter. "I feel… like I've found something I've lost," I said. "But do I still have Avelina's powers as well?"

My mom moved closer to me and placed her hands on my temples. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again, she looked worried but somewhat also pleasantly surprised.

"Avelina is gone," she said. "She finally moved on, but she left you some of her powers along with a message. You want to know what the message says?"

I nodded and she closed her eyes once again. I could feel as she opened the message inside my head and saw the message display before my eyes. It said _Thank you for showing me that I didn't make a mistake by cursing Klaus many years ago._ I wondered why she would say that and realized that she had been feeling guilty for what she did for almost a thousand years.

"What did the message say?" Irena asked curiously when my mom moved back to her seat.

"She just thanked me," I merely said, wanting to keep the message to myself for now. "And thank you for helping me. All of you. It's nice to know that there is always someone I can go to."

They all smiled and almost attacked me with a group hug. Of course Elijah had done everything he could to give me a proper life and had been like a father to me, but it was nice to have a mom, aunts, and an uncle. And now Elijah could also catch up with his own siblings, whom he'd missed for many, many years.

"You can go to Damon now and spend some time with him," my mom said. "We'll be just downstairs if you need anything."

I thanked them and quickly went looking for Damon, who without a doubt was missing me, and found him in the attic, looking through an old photo album. I crept up to him and looked over his shoulder. I noticed that he was looking at an old sepia photograph of himself and Stefan as teenagers. They were dressed in casual 19th century clothes, were smiling brightly, and looked so happy.

"You looked very dashing as a teen!" I said, grapping the picture from him.

Damon wiggled his eyebrows. "I know! I inherited my mom's good looks!" he said.

I raised an eyebrow now. "Your mom? Do you have any photographs of her?"

I'd never seen any of his parents, but I was about to see them now. Damon found a much older photograph of his parents on their wedding day. His father looked very handsome and his mother… she was so beautiful. She looked had long, dark hair (the same midnight black shade as Damon's) and dazzling sky-blue eyes.

In the photograph, she wore a stunning wedding dress, which color I couldn't tell what was since it was in sepia, and around her neck was what looked like a silver heart-shaped locket with a diamond of some sort in the middle.

I could definitely tell that Damon had inherited quite a lot from his mom like I had from my own. I wondered how she was personality wise…

"She's very beautiful," I said, realizing that I'd been very quiet for some time now. "What happened to her?"

Damon sighed weakly. "She became very ill after Stefan was born. My father… he called in the best doctors in Virginia, but they couldn't help her."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been hard for your father to raise you alone."

He snorted now for some reason, clearly being very displeased with his father's ways of raising them or maybe lack of raising them.

"My father hired nannies to raise us. His work came before us. It always did. He didn't care much about us, but just wanted us to find some woman and get married. Since I didn't marry straight away, he sent me to fight in the Civil War. When he found out about what Katherine was, he shot us. Some father he was…"

I could hear the resentment in his voice and embraced him. He sighed again, put the album back in its box, and left the attic. I took the album and as I did, an old envelope hidden inside it fell out. It was still sealed, but it was addressed to Damon and Stefan.

I wondered if I should open it and didn't see any harm in doing so. I opened it and found a letter from their mom – dated a few days after Stefan was born. Their mom told how much she loved them, how she hoped that they would stay close when they became adults, and how she knew that she might not survive the illness she suffered from.

It was very heartbreaking to read her last words and even more heartbreaking when I read that she wanted Damon to have her engagement ring, so he could give it to the woman he would eventually fall in love with and want to marry. She also wanted Stefan to have something of hers – the locket that not only she, but also her mother and her grandmother had worn – so he could give it to the woman he would fall in love with. Inside the envelope were those two things and they looked absolutely stunning.

I slipped them back into the envelope along with the letter and quickly hurried downstairs, finding Damon talking with Stefan about something he was looking for. I handed the envelope to them and merely told them that they might want to read it what it said, and then went in to the kitchen to Elena, while they read it. Elena and Stefan had been out to dinner at a fine restaurant and had just come back, still all dressed up.

"So… how was dinner with Mr. Perfect?" I asked teasingly, making Elena blush a tad.

"It went surprisingly well. At first we were just waiting for something horrible to happen, but halfway through the dinner we realized that Klaus was dead and that we could live a normal life again," she answered and smiled. "How did your day with Damon go? It's odd to see how happy Damon all of a sudden is again."

"Yeah, and it went… ok. We've found a place for us to stay in Paris and Barcelona, but we still need to find three good hotels. Oh, and I found out that Damon has not only hit on my mom, but my oldest aunt too. Lovely, right?"

Elena giggled and shook his head. "Yeah, that sounds like Damon alright. But did you get your powers back?"

I made the glass of water she'd made levitate from the kitchen counter and made it move towards her. She grabbed it in the air and smiled brighter.

I smiled too. "I'm glad you got them back and now I seriously need to get these high heels off! My feet are killing me!"

I chuckled and after Elena got her black high heeled shoes off, I helped her out by using some healing magic that would take away the pain. She thanked and went back to Stefan, who was still talking with Damon – now it was about the letter.

I chose to go back upstairs and waited for Damon to join me. I knew that he was the type to talk about his feelings or all that other gushy stuff, but I hoped that he would at least tell me if something was bothering him. I waited and waited, but Damon never came. I even went downstairs to look for him, but according to Stefan he'd left the house and gone to the grill.

Therefore, I went back to his bedroom alone and used my free time to read one of the many books Damon had. It was awfully quiet without him around and somewhat lonely too. I kept looking at the door, waiting for him to enter and send me one of those smiles of his that made the butterflies in my stomach flutter, but he didn't come. He was still at the bar and doing something he didn't want me to take any part in.

Before I even realized it, I'd fallen asleep with the book still in my lap, and couldn't wait anymore…

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	35. Seraphina

**A/N: Hiii, here it is - the end - or is it? *evil laughter* Ok, I don't know why I did that. I think I've been out in the sun too much! xD **

**Anyway, I read your reviews (thank you very much for them! :D) and noticed that you didn't want this story to end yet, so tell me if you want me to write more chapters and I'll add a couple more, because I got a couple of ideas in my mind anyway about the actual vacation they're going on ;) It's very IMPORTANT that you do this, because or else this will become the last chapter.**

**In case it is, then thank you very much for reviewing, favoriting, and of course of putting me on story alert - it really means a lot to me!**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 35:

A kiss on my cheek startled me awake and I tumbled down on the floor with a loud crash. It wasn't me who had crashed, but the lamp on the nightstand I'd knocked down. I cut my hand on one of the shards and saw the blood trickle down my bare arm, but I was more interested in what had waken me up like that. I looked confusedly around and saw that Damon was sitting on the side of the bed. He looked drunk and smelled it too, but he tried hiding it from me.

"You're back," was all I could say as I stood up. Damon showed no expression on his face whatsoever, which made me worry if I'd made a mistake by giving him the letter. I never wanted to hurt him. I just thought that he might want to read his mom's last words. "How much did you drink tonight?"

Damon showed me three fingers, then five and ten. He was too drunk to remember, so he must have been drinking more than what he showed me. I sighed and went to wash the blood off my hand, but Damon suddenly grabbed it and sunk his fangs into it.

I winced a little, but let him drink for a few seconds before giving him an aneurism. He cursed under his breath as I did so, but I made my way to the bathroom, washed my hand, and put bandages on it. But when I turned around, Damon suddenly stood in front of me with a pained look on his face that worried me even more.

I cupped his face in my hands and forced him to look into my eyes. "Damon, it's ok. I know you miss her. I–"

Damon shook his head and pushed me against the sink. "I want… blood. Fresh… blood." he said.

Oh… wait-what? How could the letter make him want to drink fresh blood? Did I remind him of what he used to do in the old days – before he came back to Mystic Falls?

I took a deep breath, pushed my long, red hair away, and exposed my bare neck to him. Damon had never bitten me like this, but I wanted him to drink my blood, so he didn't attack some random girl and accidentally killed her because he was too drunk to control himself.

"I'll stop you if you–"

It was already too late. Damon had sunk his fangs into my neck and was draining my blood. It hurt at first, but after a little while I began feeling numb and just as I began feeling light-headed, Damon surprisingly let go and licked the remaining blood residue off my skin.

I used my powers to heal my wounds this time and made my way back to the bed, trying to understand why the hell we did this at 3:00 in the morning.

"Thank you," Damon said, slipping down next to me. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed heavily. "I know it's strange that I… did that, but all these feelings… it's too overwhelming. Blood helps when alcohol doesn't."

I nodded understandingly and rubbed my sore neck, feeling the wounds starting to heal up slowly. I glanced at Damon and could tell that this _was_ about the letter. I pushed him down on the bed, took off his shoes, his pants and his shirt, and then pulled the cover up over our bodies as I tugged myself close to him. His body was warmer than usual, because my blood was rushing through his veins right now, and his breath smelled strongly of something metallic and of course of alcohol.

"You miss her, don't you? Your mom, that is," I said softly. Damon moved his gaze to mine and brushed a stray of my hair behind my ear. "You think she would have liked me?"

Damon smiled, which must obviously mean yes. "She would have loved you. If you of course had lived in the 19th century and people didn't know that you were a witch." he said.

I smiled too and leaned in to kiss him, but his breath was too much for me, so I kissed him on his cheek instead, making him frown at me.

"Brush your teeth and then we can kiss."

Damon swiftly left the bed, brushed his teeth in less than 30 seconds, and then returned to me with a minty fresh breath. I chuckled and kissed him this time. He deepened the kiss, though, and wouldn't let go of me, but I couldn't let go of him either. I missed him and the closeness of our bodies, so I let him pull my top and sleeping shorts off and made love to him.

Damon was surprisingly still good even though he was wasted and could barely stand before. He did fall down on the floor a couple of times, but… at least I had a great laugh. The third time Damon fell down I rolled down to him and just continued everything down there.

It might have been the most fun love making I'd ever done, but then again, Damon was the only one I'd been with and I wanted it to stay like that. We had a great time together and even though we both had our weaknesses, then we could do just about anything as long as we had each other. I mean, Damon was there for me when I was afraid of visiting my dad and I'd just been there for him.

"God, you're really beautiful, you know that?" Damon whispered as he kissed me along the side of my neck – right there where he'd bitten me.

"Wauw, you really must be drunk since you're admitting that!" I teased, knowingly that Damon normally only took compliments rather than gave them.

"But it's true. You're a very, very… smoking hot girl. You're so hot that I could bite you-oh, wait! I already did that!"

Damon chuckled and moved his lips back up to mine. We kissed passionately for a few minutes, but our attention was taken away by the sound of a glass shattering downstairs. Damon grabbed his boxer shorts and pants, while I grabbed my panties, bra, and his shirt before we ran as fast as we could downstairs. We saw a grey wolf inside the house and Elena, who had gone downstairs to get herself a glass of water, had dropped her glass and was looking at the wolf with wide eyes, while Stefan stood protectively in front of her.

However, there was something about the wolf that seemed familiar. It was the wolf that dug me up two days ago and it was first now that I noticed that it actually had emerald green eyes. I quickly stopped Damon from attacking the wolf and walked calmly up to it.

The wolf recognized my scent when it sniffed to my hand and licked it as if it greeted an old friend. I kneeled down and hugged it, wondering why it had come here. I was of course thankful of the help it gave me, but there had to be a reason why it came back and why it had green eyes.

"You know it?" Elena asked worriedly.

"Kindda," I said and cupped its face in my hands. "It found me in the woods and dug me up. It also called for a pack of werewolves to help me."

"It did what?" Damon asked, sounding more angry than thankful.

The wolf growled at him, making me chuckle and give it a kiss on its forehead. It licked me on my cheek and placed its paws on my shoulders. I smiled and placed my hands on its head, closing my eyes and trying to figure out why it was here. It showed me images of a young girl with dark red hair, who lived in the 11th century and this girl was no other than Avelina's daughter. It wasn't her actual daughter, but her soul had reincarnated and she had been reborn as a wolf.

"Show me your name," I said kindly and it showed me a memory from her old life where her mom was calling for her. Her name was Emma. "Hi, Emma. Thank you for helping me. You know who I am, don't you?"

The wolf growled and confirmed my suspicion. It was honored to meet Emma, while the others were more confused than before. I'd completely forgotten that they were still here and stood up again.

"I'm sorry. This is Emma. Or more likely her reincarnated form. She's Avelina's daughter and as I said before – the one who dug me up from my grave." I said.

They nodded understandingly, but they were still confused. "But what is she doing here?" Elena asked worriedly.

I shrugged. "I could try asking her, but she looks kindda hungry. Don't we have anything for her?"

Stefan went to the fridge and found a red beef in it that Emma gladly ate. I was right about her being hungry and I also poured up a bowl with water in case she was thirsty.

When she was done eating and drinking, she wanted me to follow her in to the living room and in there was a young woman with long, pale, and white hair, sapphire blue eyes, and she was dressed in a plain, but beautiful black dress. She was the gothic fairytale version of a vampire and hauntingly alluring. I could sense that she wasn't a witch, but there _was_ something supernatural about her.

"Who is _she_?" asked Damon, sounding more irritated now than ever.

"Who is he?" the woman asked calmly, startling Damon a bit.

Her voice was so… elegant and fluent, but now I knew that she was British too. I took a step forward and when her gaze met mine, I felt a shiver run down my spine and I blushed, feeling like I was standing naked in front of her, which I almost was.

"What is your name, child?" she asked in a soft motherly tone that didn't fit her young looks.

"Rhianna," I said and heard a voice inside my head, telling me to say my full name. "Rhianna Magdalena De Sauveterre."

The woman nodded and smiled, then turned her piercing gaze to Damon, cocking her head a tad to the side. "And you?"

"Damon Salvatore," Damon said hesitantly. "Who are you and what are you doing in my home?"

"Damon Salvatore…. I have heard quite a lot about you. You're the vampire who charmed his way to Rhianna's heart. I want to speak with you later, but for now I only want to speak with Rhianna. You may all go back to bed until then."

Damon groaned and wanted to hurt her, but I quickly stopped him and told him very firmly that they needed to listen to her. Reluctantly, they did, but they had one condition. They wanted Elena to stay with me and the woman didn't have any problems with her being there as well.

"My name is Seraphina," the woman said. "I am the first and oldest witch who has ever walked amongst the living and dear Emma requested my help, because she could sense that you needed my help. I do understand that you have already restored your powers, but it was a very traumatizing experience for you to be brought back from the dead and that is what I'm here to help you with."

"But… you're a witch. How can you then be the oldest witch on Earth?" I asked suspiciously.

Seraphina merely smiled and moved her gaze to a plant that looked like it was dying. She narrowed her eyes at it and it started to grow as easy as nothing. She had given it its life back and that was how I understood how she was still alive.

"Have you told anyone about your time in the afterlife?" she asked.

I shook my head and sighed. I couldn't get myself to talk with anyone about it, because none of them would understand how I felt when I sat there in the darkness, went through that beautiful light, and saw things I shouldn't be able to see.

"It's even hard to think about it. I mean, I… I can't really describe it." I answered, but Seraphina seemed to understand.

"It feels like something is burning inside your chest and fighting to burst out."

I nodded. "Precisely. It sometimes burns so much that I can't stand it. But… when I'm with Damon it disappears for a moment. It's just not enough, though."

Seraphina signed for me to walk up to her and stood up from the chair she had been sitting in. She took my hands in hers and her hands were surprisingly warm and soft.

"I can erase any memory of you ever visiting the afterlife, but you will have visions of what will happen in the future. You will not be able to control these visions, but the power inside you will ease up. However, there is something I ask from you in return."

I knew there was a catch! There always was a catch to things like these. But I really wanted the feeling to go away, because it was at the point of being unbearable.

"What do you want in return?" I asked and saw a glimpse of fear in Elena's eyes.

"I want you to answer this question truthfully," Seraphina answered. "Would you give up all your powers and become a vampire just so you could live with Damon for the rest of your eternity?"

"Without a doubt." And I meant it from the bottom of my heart.

Seraphina nodded understandingly and told me to bring Damon this time. She had something she wanted to talk with him first before she helped me. Elena stayed, while I brought Damon to the living room and when Elena and I waited with Stefan in the parlor, Stefan told me that neither he nor Damon could hear what we'd been talking about in the living room. I figured that it was Seraphina's doing and wondered why she asked me that question.

Was she asking Damon of the same question right now?

Would Damon give up his immortality and become a human so he could live with me?

I knew that Damon loved being a vampire and really didn't want to give up his good looks or powers, but would he give it all up for me?

"I don't care what Damon says," I said aloud, making Stefan frown. I told him about the question Seraphina gave me and he nodded understandingly, but seemed to wonder himself if he would give up his immortality to be with Elena. I was sure that he would. He loved Elena so much and didn't like being a vampire. "I just hope that Damon will give an answer instead of leaving the question unanswered."

But I truly didn't care if Damon wouldn't give up his immortality. I just wanted him to be honest with himself and with me.

When Damon returned he immediately looked at me. He didn't say anything, but merely took my hand and ushered me back in to the living room to Seraphina. I was scared, but I felt calm and safe when Damon slipped his arm protectively around me and pulled me close to him.

"Damon and Rhianna, I both asked you if you would give up your powers or immortality just so you could be with each other and I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised of your answers…" Seraphina said. "Rhianna was ready to give up all of her powers to become a vampire and even though Damon didn't give up on his immortality, then he had a good reason for doing so. He wanted to spend the rest of his eternity with you. I will let you keep your powers, Rhianna, because you have no intentions of using them for own personal gain and have helped many even when you didn't need to do it."

"But… this means that I cannot become a vampire and live forever. I will eventually grow old and die." I said.

Seraphina shook her head and walked up to me. She touched me lightly on my wrist with the tip of her index and middle finger and as she did, a mark was burned under my skin. It was two snakes biting each other's tails or to be precise – Ouroboros.

When I looked back up at Seraphina, she and Emma were gone as if they'd never been here. I turned to Damon and saw that he had the same tattoo on his wrist.

"I really hope that you meant it when you said you would love me forever, because I don't think you can remove this tattoo…" I said, smirking teasingly.

"Of course! And congratulations with being married to me now." Damon said, smirking cockily.

"Say-what?" I did not know that I'd just said yes to marry Damon, but he seemed to know and he didn't look particularly annoyed with it.

Damon burst into laughter of my shocked facial expression and pulled me into his embrace. "I'm joking! But oh, that look on your face – it was priceless!"

I hit Damon hard on his arm and went to leave, but he pulled me back and gave me a kiss I couldn't resist. I gave in even though I was annoyed with how he scared me there and let myself melt in his warm embrace. Of course I would like to get married someday, but not now. Technically, I still _was_ 17 years old and not 168 or something like that like Damon was.

"I'm so going to get my revenge on you when you least expect it!" I teased.

"Oh, is that so? Well, I'm looking forward to see you _fail_!" Damon scoffed.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I never fail, vamp. Never!"

Damon shook his head of me and leaned down to my lips. His didn't kiss me, but merely touched my lips with his tauntingly. I almost couldn't restrain myself from kissing him. "You are so going to fail, _witch_. And when you do you will realize that no one can win over the awesome, eternal and smoking hot stud, Damon– ouch! Stop hitting me!"

**IMPORTANT - if you for some reason didn't read the A/N, then please do it ;) **

**Thanks for reading and please review! 8D**


	36. Dublin

**A/N: Hii, I noticed that you wanted me to write more chapters, so... here's chapter 36! :D**

**Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 36:

Damon slept peacefully by my side, a protective arm still around me, and he was murmuring something in his sleep that sounded like he was teasing me in his dream. The smirk on his lips was so alluring that I had a hard time keeping myself from waking him up. I wanted to kiss those soft lips of his, but at the same time I wanted to enjoy the sight of him too.

I ended up doing nothing and just enjoyed lying in his warm embrace. I was supposed to sleep and get some rest, but I was afraid that if I fell asleep then I would dream about Lémieux's family attacking me again. The past three nights I'd been dreaming about them and even now that we were finally at our first destination then the dream continued to haunt me.

However, Damon had promised to take me somewhere special at four in the morning, so that meant that I only had to stay awake for another two hours. I had never been that patient, though, so I tried sneaking out of our soft hotel bed, but Damon suddenly pinned my arms to the mattress and got on top of me, our Ouroboros tattoos touching each other.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked teasingly, kissing me tauntingly on the side of my neck.

"This is so going to ruin the moment, but to the bathroom," I answered giggling. Damon chuckled softly against my skin and moved his lips to mine. I locked my legs around his waist and pressed my hip against his. "Someone's in the mood… what exactly where you dreaming?"

Damon smirked and kissed me passionately in a way that made me lose my breath. "You _really_ want to know what I was dreaming?"

I nodded and bit my lip, waiting in anticipation for him to reveal his dream. I knew that it had something to do with him teasing me and it obviously had to be naughty too since I could feel that he was in the mood.

"I dreamt that I had a threesome with you and–"

"OMG, Damon!" I interrupted, pushing him down from the bed.

Damon laughed and crawled back up into the bed. He jumped on me like a tiger and covered me with kisses. I couldn't stop giggling of the tickling feeling and begged him to stop, but he wouldn't. So I used my powers to make a vase levitate towards him and poured the water on his back. He was so startled that he fell down from the bed again and I burst into laughter.

"That's what you get for cheating on me in your dreams!" I said, throwing a pillow at his head.

Damon managed to catch it before it hit him and he threw it back to me. "Am I cheating on you if I'm sleeping with you and your twin?" he asked.

"My twin? Well…" I didn't have an answer for that and blushed.

Damon wiggled his eyebrows and crawled back up on the bed again, but this time he didn't tickle me with his kisses. He merely pushed a stray of my red hair behind my ear and gave me a quick, but tender kiss that left me speechless.

"I love when you blush…" he said teasingly "But now that we're awake, then we might as well get ready."

"For what exactly?" I asked curiously.

"I'm not telling you anything!" Damon answered melodically.

I groaned and went to the bathroom to take a shower before we left. I could hear Damon laugh of me as I left the bedroom, but tried ignoring him and just took that quick shower.

While I was standing under the warm water and enjoying the sound of water falling, I suddenly felt a familiar prickling feeling in the back of my neck and when I turned around I saw a very naked Damon stand in the shower cabin with me, smirking in that usual mischievous way.

"You got problems, you know that, right?" I asked, folding my arms so he couldn't stare at my breasts and trying my hardest not to let my own gaze go any further down than to his chest.

"Ah, stop complaining! I know you love it!" Damon said, wrapping his arm around me and pushing me very close to him.

I blushed and tried fighting the urge to lower my gaze. "I bet you were a very promiscuous boy when you were human. I mean, your emotions and feelings are enhanced once you become a vampire and since you're very pervy now, then you must have been pervy too as a human."

Damon embraced me tightly, resting his head on my shoulder as he said. "You're very right about that, but there's something you're forgetting."

I moved a little back and looked confusedly at him. "What?"

"There are not all a lot of girls that are able to turn me on quite as much as you do!"

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the shower cabin and before Damon could step out of it as well, I turned the cold water on. He sped out of the shower and quickly grabbed the towel I was going to take. I groaned and grabbed another towel, then walked back to our bedroom and got dressed.

It was very early, so I was still quite tired, but after getting a warm cup of tea, I felt a little more awake and finally left the hotel with Damon to the secret place he wanted to take me to. I took a quick nap while Damon drove to the place and must have slept during the whole trip, because when we finally arrived, we were in the outskirts of Dublin and it was almost five in the morning.

"You've kidnapped me, haven't you?" I asked and yawned.

Damon chuckled, but didn't say anything. He stepped out of the car and went to my side of the car to open the door for me. I thanked and stepped out, immediately surprised by the sight of where we were. We were at the top of a hill with the view of Dublin and over the horizon you could see the sun rising over the city. The sight was simply… breathtaking and I was lost for words for a long time.

"You understand why I love Dublin?" Damon asked.

I nodded. I was too dumbstruck to say anything right now. Damon swiftly fetched something from his car – a blanket – and he unfolded it on the beautiful green grass. We sat down and watched as the sun rose just like when we had watched the sunset the day I died.

"I think… this is the most romantic thing you've ever done for me," I said, smiling brightly. "Thank you, Damon."

Damon kissed me on my cheek, whispering a sweet "You're welcome" into my ear.

We sat in silence for the next half hour and enjoyed the sight, until we began hearing the loud noises that came from the city and the noises told me that the citizens were starting to wake up as well.

"Rhia, you already know that I haven't been that… lucky when it comes to having a serious and long relationship…" Damon said.

I nodded and wondered where he was heading with this.

"I've never… felt so strongly about anyone… except you. And I would hate to let go of you after everything we've been through, so… I want you to have this."

Damon took something out of his pocket. It was his mother's old engagement ring. My eyes widened when I saw it and I tried saying something, but the words wouldn't take form in my mouth. I never ever imagined that Damon would actually give it to me. I mean, it was his mother's ring.

"I'm not asking you to marry me straight away, but… it's a promise and my way of saying that I want you to be only mine." Damon said, smirking a bit of the last he said.

"But it's your mom's ring…?" I said worriedly.

"Yes, and now it's yours. I love you more than anything in this world and I truly do want to spend the rest of my eternity with you. So when the time is right I want you to be my wife."

I giggled. I didn't know why, but I just found it a tad amusing that Damon wanted to marry _me_. Sure, we'd been together for a few months now, but… seriously? He wanted me to be "Mrs. Salvatore".

"Why are you giggling? I'm very serious, you know…" Damon said, shaking his head of me.

"I know and I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time believing that you really want to marry me. I mean, I understand that you want to be my boyfriend, but my husband? That's just… strange." I said.

"So you're saying no?" He sounded disappointed now.

"No! I mean, yes, no, I-I…" I sighed heavily and tried again. "Of course I want to marry you, Damon."

Damon smiled and slipped the ring on my finger, then tackled me to the ground and covered me with kisses again. I could tell that he truly wanted to marry me and that only made me surer that I wanted to marry him too.

It wasn't any surprise that we couldn't keep our hands off each other and wanted to celebrate the engagement in our own "special" way. We almost got caught making love on the hill by an old lady, who was out walking with her dog, but we managed to get away before she saw us and continued somewhere else.

It was very exciting and at the same time nerve-wracking too, but Damon didn't seem to feel the same way about making love outdoors. I guessed that he'd tried it before, which wasn't really that much of a surprise.

We did return to our hotel room, though, and I hurried to Elena and Stefan's suite, so I could tell Elena about the engagement.

But Damon and I weren't the only ones, who were enjoying the morning together. I couldn't stop myself from giggling, but I didn't want to interrupt them and just went back to my suite. They deserved some time together and I did wonder if they'd ever… been together _that_ way.

"Why are you blushing so much?" Damon asked when I came back to him.

"Um… I'm not blushing, I… I just ran back." I lied, feeling too embarrassed to tell the truth.

"Okay… well, I hope you have enough energy for a little more fun…"

Damon wrapped his arms around me and kissed me tauntingly on my neck. "Actually, I'm kindda tired, so…"

Damon stared incredulously at me. I'd never said no to make love to him, but now I was because I'd almost walked in on my best friend, while she… well, it was kindda of a turn off.

"Alright… um… what about a massage then?"

I smiled brightly and kissed him. Now _that_ I did want! Damon and I sat on the bed and he gave me the most wonderful back massage with lavender oil. It was just like going to the spa, but instead of being naked on a table and getting a massage of a stranger, then I was lying half-naked on our bed and getting a massage of my 160-something-year-old boyfriend and now also fiancé.

"Life is great, don't you think?" I asked, smiling brighter than ever.

Damon snorted. "Pfft! You're just saying that because I'm sweet enough to give you a massage!" he teased.


	37. Hunter

**A/N: Hii, thanks for all the lovely reviews! I'm glad that you still want more chapters ;)**

**So... here's chap 37!**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 37:

Our week in Dublin was simply enchanting and I was too in love with the place to leave it already. Damon promised me that we would go back another time – just the two of us – so I wasn't clinging to a tree and acting like a child that didn't want to go home.

The next place to visit on our list was no other than the romantic Paris and I knew for a fact that Elena wouldn't forget this trip either, because last night before we left our hotel Stefan told me that he was going to propose to her. He hoped that she would say yes even though saying yes meant becoming a vampire and spending the rest of her life with only him.

I hadn't told Elena or Stefan about my engagement with Damon, because I didn't want Elena to think that Stefan was only proposing to her because Damon had proposed to me, but I also just wanted to keep the secret to myself for a little while longer. I also knew that Damon wasn't the one to brag about something like this and he told me on the third day in Dublin that he hadn't told Stefan anything about proposing to me.

However, when we got to Paris I hardly thought that we were going to be talking about the engagement, because we were visiting my grandparents for the first time and even now as I sat in the taxi on our way to their grand chateau, I was so excited that I wanted to scream. Elena and Stefan found my excitement very amusing, while Damon just shook his head of me.

But we eventually came to the chateau and I was instantly amazed by the sight of it. It had been built in 1754 and was twice as big as the Lockwood Mansion and the Salvatore Boarding House combined! I wouldn't even call it a chateau, but more a medium sized castle and I began wondering just exactly _whom_ I was related to. My dad hadn't told me much about my grandparents other than them being very rich and influential people.

"Dear God…" Elena mumbled, looking just as amazed as I was right now.

"My, my, looks like I've found myself a little princess," Damon teased, making me move my gaze from the chateau to him. "I wonder what will happen if your grandparents hear that you're dating a vampire; have a vampire friend, and a doppelganger as your best friend."

"I wonder if they even know what I am…" I muttered as the butler walked out to us and helped us with our luggage.

As soon as we walked up the long stairs, the doors opened and I saw an old 65-year-old man with steel gray hair, dressed in an expensive black suit and looking like a real businessman, who had just come home from an important meeting in New York. Next to him was a beautiful 62-year-old woman with midnight black hair with a few gray stripes, and she too looked very classy, but somewhat still casual.

"Rhianna," Grandma said, pulling me into a hug immediately. I was surprised that she recognized me since my dad told me that she had never met me, but I guessed that she recognized my mom. She covered me with kisses and hugged me tightly like only a true grandmother would. "I cannot believe that I'm finally meeting you. You look so much like your mother."

"Yes, I've been told that," I said, smiling brightly. "And I'm happy to meet you too. Oh, and I would like to introduce you to my friends and boyfriend. This is Elena, Stefan, and his brother Damon."

My grandmother greeted each of them in French, while my grandfather remained quiet and was glaring venomously at Damon and Stefan. I wondered if he knew that they were vampires or if he just didn't like that I'd brought two guys along.

"Jacques," Grandma said firmly, noticing that her husband had been silent. My grandfather finally took his eyes away from the Salvatore brothers and moved his gaze to me. He didn't hug me, but merely shook my hand as if I was just a stranger to him and not his granddaughter. "Well, please come inside, sweethearts."

Elena and I walked inside with my grandmother, but as soon as we were inside, my grandfather blocked Stefan and Damon's way and had a firm look on his face. He _knew_.

"Rhianna never told me that you two were vampires," he said, which immediately caught everyone's attention. "I don't like vampires and I don't want you inside my home."

"But–"

My grandfather turned to me. "No, buts Rhianna! I don't understand how you can fall in love with a vampire, but your relationship ends now."

My eyes widened in shock. "What? You can't decide that! How do you even know that they're vampires?"

My grandfather turned to me and it was first now that I noticed the ring on his finger. A ring that could bring a human back if they were killed by a supernatural being.

"I'm a hunter, Rhianna, and I've been one ever since I was born," he said. "I can spot a vampire a mile away and I'm not letting these two in. I know how deceiving they can be."

"Deceiving? Excuse me, but you're the one being deceiving right now. Does your son even know what you are? That you hunt vampires?" Damon asked angrily.

"That is none of your business. Now if you're wise, then you're going to leave and never come back." Granddad answered.

"Monsieur De Sauveterre, we understand that you are just worried for Rhianna and Elena's safety, but we are not trying to deceive anyone. We love them more than anything in this world and have killed vampires like Klaus to protect them." Stefan said calmly.

I didn't know if it was because Stefan mentioned Klaus, whom my grandfather seemed to know who was, but my grandfather turned to me for confirmation and I nodded. He sighed heavily and let Stefan inside, but he stopped Damon and said that he wanted to talk with him.

Alone.

It worried me that my grandfather wanted to talk with my fiancé, but I trusted both of them and hoped that they wouldn't do anything stupid that would get both of them killed. But I waited patiently with Elena, Stefan, and my grandmother inside her kitchen and just hoped for the best.

"He never told my dad about him being a hunter, right?" I asked worriedly.

My grandmother shook her head. "We didn't want him to worry about if werewolves or vampires were going to kill him, so… we let him have a normal life. But his life changed anyway when he met your mom and had you." she said.

"Is he still a hunter?" Elena asked curiously.

"Well… He always tells me that he stopped 15 years ago, but it's in his nature to hunt down vampires," Grandma answered and turned to me. "I apologize if it seems like he doesn't like you, he just… he's having a hard time dealing with the fact that is only grandchild is a witch."

I sighed and jolted up from my seat when I suddenly heard the door open. I ran as fast as I could to the entrance and sighed in relief when I saw that Damon was still alive. I hurried to him and wrapped my arms around him, thanking God for making my grandfather understand I loved this vampire.

"What did you talk about?" I asked curiously and suddenly noticed blood coming from Damon's leg and stomach.

"Well, your grandfather shot me and then ordered me to behave or else he would stake me and my brother in our sleep," Damon answered, while we walked to the nearest bathroom. I sighed and shook my head of my grandfather, but helped Damon get the wooden bullets out. "He also asked me what my intentions were with you and I answered that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Aw!" I exclaimed and hugged Damon instead of removing the bullet from his stomach. "What did he say when you said that?"

Damon snorted. "That I wasn't allowed to sleep in your bedroom and that '_if I as much as kissed you for more than five seconds, then he would put another bullet in my ass this time_'."

I was shocked that my grandfather wasn't at all like my mom's father, but it was kindda cool and still worrying. I knew that I would be safe with him, but I didn't know if Damon would too.

"In that case then, you're going to have to survive without any fun under the covers for a week," I said much to Damon's annoyance. He was going to go crazy without any sex for a whole week and especially, since he couldn't drink my blood either. He had to go on Stefan's diet and that was the least thing he wanted to do. "I know it sucks, but–"

"Don't you dare say _look on the bright side_! There is no bright side to this."

I sighed and sat down on Damon's lap after his leg had healed and wrapped my arms around him. I gently stroked his cheek and looked him into his wonderful sky-blue eyes.

"What if I promise to make it up to you later on?" I asked.

Damon narrowed his eyes at me. "Well, that depends. How are you going to make it up to me?" he answered curiously.

I smiled and kissed him passionately. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me a little closer to him. I could feel the kiss deepen and his tongue fervently touching mine, but as we were starting to move our hands under each other's shirts, we suddenly heard my grandfather calling for us.

"Just… try to be patient. Ok?" I said, stepping off his lap.

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything," Damon said, smirking teasingly. "Who knows? I might accidentally walk into your bedroom in my sleep and undress myself."

He wiggled his eyebrows when he said the last part, making me giggle and kiss him again before leaving the bathroom and walking back to my grandfather in the living room. He was talking with Elena and Stefan about our fight against Klaus and about how I was dead for a whole month.

"Grand-père, why did you shoot Damon? Twice?" I asked, taking a seat on the footstool of his armchair.

My grandfather sighed and muttered something in French I only partly understood. I had been trying to learn as much as I could before I left and could tell that he was sorry for hurting Damon, but that he didn't regret doing it. He cupped my face in his warm hands and gently stroked my cheeks.

"I'm just trying to make sure that you don't get hurt, ma chérie," he said. "But I do mean what I said to Damon. If he doesn't behave then I will throw him out of my home. I'm fine with Stefan being here as long as he keeps drinking animal blood, but unless Damon drinks animal blood too, then I'm keeping an eye on him."

"That's nice to know," Damon said sarcastically as he walked in. "But now that I have met your dad's side of the family too, then I don't have anything else to worry about anymore."

"You haven't met my mom's parents yet…" I reminded.

Damon groaned of the reminder, but it made my grandfather chuckle and that meant a lot to me. I didn't want him to be angry all the time just because I'd brought to vampires along. And hopefully he would learn to like not only Damon, but also other vampires I knew and cared a lot about.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	38. Vengeance Sur Damien Lémieux

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the reviews! This will be the third last chap, but I promise you the second last and the last chap will be extra long! ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 38:

Of course Damon snuck into my bedroom in the middle of the night and woke me up, but I didn't care because I missed sleeping next to him and wanted to feel safe. I hardly believed that my grandfather was up at 3:00 in the morning, so I pulled Damon close to me without fearing that my grandfather was going to burst inside with a gun and shoot Damon again.

"Did you miss me?" I asked teasingly, knowingly that Damon had missed me.

"Of course…" he chuckled and pressed his lips against mine.

I kissed him back and the touch of his fingers on bare skin made me want to enjoy more of him. I got on top of him and sat on his waist as I pulled my thin t-shirt up over my head and tossed it aside. Damon was already bare and the only thing that kept us from making love was my sleeping shorts and his boxer shorts.

"Now why do I get the feeling that you want me right now?"

I chuckled softly and kissed him passionately. He pushed me back down the mattress and removed the fabric between us. I quickly found those honeysweet lips of his and enjoyed the touch of his hands on my body. We were of course quiet, but not only because we didn't want anyone to hear it, but because Damon had to listen if anyone woke up, so he would be able to get away before the person found us.

However, we both suddenly heard a noise coming from outside and quickly got our clothes back on before going to the window. We saw dark figures outside in the garden and they were sneaking around in a very strange way as they approached the chateau.

"Let's go say hello to our little friends," Damon said and hurried to get Stefan, who too had snuck into Elena's bedroom at some point. We didn't wake up my grandparents, but just snuck outside and tried finding whoever was out there. "Stef, you go that way with Elena. We'll take the other way."

Stefan nodded and while Stefan and Elena went to the right side of the garden, we went to the left. I was ready to use my powers if it was vampires, werewolves or just humans, but it was kindda embarrassing to walk around in the garden with nothing but a thin t-shirt and sleeping shorts on, while your boyfriend swiftly had gotten all of his clothes on with his awesome vampire abilities.

"You cold?" Damon asked quietly, noticing that I was shivering.

I nodded and he handed me his leather jacket, but when we started walking again, he suddenly stopped and turned his head towards the direction we came from.

Before he could say anything he was suddenly shot in his shoulder by a stake and I realized that we weren't dealing with vampires. I quickly attacked the armed man and sent him flying into a tree, but I too was sent flying into the wall by someone else. It wasn't just hunters, but witches.

"Rhia!" Damon called as I got up on my feet.

He tried getting to me, but someone shot him in his back with a stake. That someone then tried getting to me, but a gunshot was fired and the man dropped to the ground, while the other witches and warlocks fled. I saw my grandfather hurry up to me and he saw the gun he was carrying.

"Rhianna, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" he asked worriedly.

I shook my head and hurried up to Damon instead. The stake was still in his back and he was growling out of anger, so I quickly pulled it out and watched as he healed up. He rolled over in the grass and smiled at the sight of seeing me alive.

"Tell me again why we were just attacked by crazy witches?" he said questioningly.

I sighed and helped him up. "I truly don't know why they came, but… oh…"

Damon looked towards the direction I was looking at and saw the fresh spray paint on the wall I hit that said "_Vengeance sur Damien Lémieux_". I didn't have to know French to understand what that meant. Damien's family knew that I killed Damien and wanted revenge on me.

"Well, that's just… great," Damon said, sighing in frustration. "C'mon. We better get inside before something else happens."

I nodded and we all went back inside where Elena and Stefan were waiting with my grandmother. I never wanted to put my grandparents in any danger for something Damon and I did, but Damien's family was clearly angry with us and since many would get hurt if a war between my family and Damien's family would break out, then I had to ask for help of one particular person.

Seraphina.

All our powers came from her. She was the mother of magic and could settle this before the war broke out and I was sure that she didn't want that to happen.

"I better contact Seraphina," I said, making my grandparents frown with confusion. "She's the world's first witch. If anyone can help then it's her."

They nodded understandingly and the others agreed. They too didn't want Lémieux's family to attack us just because Damien died after he tried killing Damon and I.

"Do it in the morning," Damon said, though. "Right now we need to sleep and I don't think that they'll return anyway. Not tonight."

Everyone agreed except me. I wanted to talk with Seraphina now, because I didn't know what the Lémieux family was capable of. I might be immortal, but I wasn't invincible. All creatures had a weakness no matter what. Even Seraphina did, but it was just harder to find her weakness than to find mine since I wasn't as strong or as old as she was.

"Rhianna?" Damon said when everyone had gone back to bed except for me. I was still seated in the living room and worrying about what happened tonight. "Are you coming?"

I shook my head, so Damon walked up to me and sat down next to me on the couch. He placed his finger under my chin as he leaned in and kissed my cheek softly. I looked at him and felt his hand on mine that was resting on my thigh.

"I know that we went on this trip to forget about things like these, but… we have to fix our mess before we continue this trip." he said.

"I know that, Damon," I said and sighed heavily. "I'm just worried of how strong they are. I mean, I'm the only witch here. My family is far away and can't help me against all the magic Damien's family holds. And I don't know if they're able to kill me."

I felt Damon's hand tighten on mine and even though I understood that he was just trying to calm me down, then he couldn't take my worries away completely. He did manage to calm me a bit down by gently caressing my hand with his thumb and letting me tug myself close to him.

"You know that I love you, right?" he asked, making me smile weakly because the answer to that was very obvious.

"Of course," I said, looking into his eyes. They looked almost black in the darkness, but still warm and filled with love. "Or else I wouldn't have said yes to marry you."

Damon smiled, but suddenly heard a noise coming from the doorway. He mouthed that it was my grandfather and I felt my cheeks become warm by the thought of my grandfather now knowing that I was engaged to Damon. But Damon ignored his presence and continued.

"I promise that whatever happens then I will stay by your side. I'm not letting you die again," he said. "And if you die, then you already know that we won't be apart for long."

I nodded and kissed him gently before resting my head on his shoulder. I soon fell asleep in his embrace and what happened after that I didn't know. I was too caught up by the dream I had and in that dream Damon and I were dancing together in Paris at night and watching the firework explode above us in the sky. I didn't know if it was Damon who controlled the dream or if it was a vision, but I didn't want to wake up from it just yet. I felt safe and at peace.

However, all dreams had to come to an end and when I woke up the sun was shining once again, birds were singing outside, and I was lying alone in my bedroom. I rubbed my tired eyes and left my bedroom to find the others and met Elena in the hallway. She was looking for the bathroom and was too only wearing her pjs.

"Mornin'," I said, smiling weakly. "You're going to brush your teeth?"

Elena nodded and I quickly fetched my toothbrush, so I could join her as we looked for one of the many bathrooms this beautiful, but very big chateau had. We eventually found one nearby and brushed our teeth together. I remembered what Stefan had told me about proposing to Elena and wondered when he was going to do it, because we might get busy here.

"So… how are things going with you and Stefan?" I asked curiously. "I mean, you've been together for about a year or so now."

"It's going good. No, great," Elena said, smiling like a school girl in love. I giggled and poked a bit to her side to make her tell more. "I think… I think he's going to propose to me soon."

My eyes widened, because I did not expect Elena to figure that out. "What?"

"I know, I know! But… I think I'll say yes if he does propose to me. I mean, I've seen how willing you and Damon are to give your lives up for each other, so what does it matter if I won't be able to grow old and have children? I love Stefan and… I want to be with him. Forever."

I smiled brightly. "I'm glad you've made your mind, but you sure he's really going to propose? I mean, I know we're in Paris and all, but the only thing romantic Damon has done for me is to sneak into my bedroom at night so far."

That wasn't entirely true, but I wanted to wait until after Stefan had proposed to Elena to tell her about my engagement with Damon in Dublin.

"Now why doesn't that surprise me? Did your grandfather find out about it?"

I shook my head. "And thank God for that. It would have been very awkward!"

"_What would have been awkward?_" Stefan asked.

We both turned to him at the doorway and giggled, but it wasn't because his hair was a mess or because we had just talked about Damon sneaking inside to me to sleep with me, but because we had been talking about him maybe proposing to her.

"What's so funny?" Stefan asked, making his way to the sink to kiss Elena.

I giggled again and spit out the toothpaste before washing my toothbrush. "Oh, nothing. But do you remember that _soufflé_ we talked about a few days ago. I think you so _try_ it."

Stefan smiled, because he remembered the codeword we had made up, so he knew if it was safe for him to propose to Elena. I left them alone in the bathroom and went looking for my fiancé. He was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of black coffee in his hand and talking with my grandfather about the battle he and I had against Damien the day Damien died.

"Good morning, everyone! Are you ready to meet the infamous Seraphina?" I asked and sat down next to Damon.

I was feeling better now and was ready to do whatever I could to fix our mess…

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	39. Truce

**A/N: Hii, thanks for all the reviews, faves, and story alerts, and here's the second last chappie - extra long as promised! ;)**

**Last chap will probably up either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow depending on when I'm going to the doctor...**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 39:

Seraphina appeared almost instantly when I summoned her and she looked beautiful as always. I had so many questions for her, but I got the feeling that she already knew exactly what was going on, because when I opened my mouth to speak, she spoke first.

"I will help you, for even I do not wish a war to break out between your family and Damien's," she said. "But it will not be easy. The Lémieux family has already sent their best warlocks and witches to kill you and kill you they can."

I sighed, because that was exactly what I feared. I turned my gaze to Damon and could tell that he too was worried about what Seraphina had said.

"But can't I make some sort of truce with them?" I asked worriedly. "I mean, we only killed Damien in self-defense."

"A truce? I hardly believe that they will say yes to that, but… it is not impossible. But Rhianna, I want you to be careful. I promised Avelina that I would look out for you." Seraphina answered.

I took a deep breath and sat down on the couch, wondering about what I could possibly give the Lémieux family in return to make them leave them alone. They wanted power, magic, and right now they mostly wanted revenge on the death of their heir. But if Seraphina or I brought Damien back, then… then they might let me alone.

"Seraphina, is there a way to bring back Damien?" I asked.

"What? We can't bring that bastard back!" Damon complained.

"I'm sorry, Rhia, but I have to agree with Damon on that. Damien tried killing both of you and nearly succeeded." Stefan said

I looked at Elena, who too didn't seem that fond of the idea of bringing Damien back either, but I didn't know what else to give them.

"You could do something else," Seraphina said, breaking the tense silence between us. "There is an old tradition witches have where you ask for another witch's forgiveness by giving him or her, your strongest power. In your case that would be your ability to use fire."

"Oh… well, do you have any problems with me giving up that power?" I asked the others.

Stefan and Elena shrugged, while Damon's jaw tightened. He still wasn't too happy with me even making the truce with the enemy. I knew that Damon was never going to change when it came to fighting against his enemies and he much preferred to kill them than to make peace with them.

"Fine, then I'll give up that power," I said when no one said anything. "Seraphina, can you arrange a meeting with Damien's parents somewhere public?"

Seraphina nodded and disappeared and as soon as she disappeared, all hell broke loose.

"You are not going to that meeting, Rhianna! They're going to kill you anyway!" Damon said.

"Damon, I can handle this by myself! It's just a meeting and you heard Seraphina. She promised to look out for me, so I won't be in danger!" I said.

"Rhia, I understand that you want to do the right thing, but I agree with Damon. It's too dangerous! What if she can't protect you? What if you're only going to get yourself killed?" Grandpa said.

"What? How can you agree with Damon? I have to do this and I'm going to do it even if you don't like it. This is my mess and I'm fixing it without violence with or without your help!" I retorted and left the living room before they could stop me.

I went out to the garden to get some fresh air and to be alone, because it was clearly impossible to do something without having everyone being against it. Especially, when the person who was against it was my fiancé and was supposed to support me no matter what.

Without thinking about the consequences, I conjured up a ball of fire and threw it at the nearest tree, setting it on fire and watching as the tree broke in two and the top part fell down to the ground.

I needed to get my frustrations and anger out, but even after I had done it I still felt so angry and frustrated. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and… I felt Damon's arms slip around me and his head was resting on my left shoulder. All the anger disappeared just like that, but I was still frustrated. I still wanted to scream.

"I'm going with you," he said quietly. "I know that I can't talk you out of this, so… the least I can do is to go with you."

I rested my hands on Damon's hands that were placed on my stomach. I didn't want him to remove his arms yet. I needed him to soothe the anger before I ended up hurting someone I cared about.

"Thank you, Damon," I said quietly and felt his arms tighten around me. "And I'm sorry for being so stubborn. I tend to forget that you are just trying to protect me."

"Tend? You do it all the time!" Damon turned me around to face him and smiled when he saw how much I was blushing. "But let's just forget your silly stubbornness for a moment and put out the tree before the whole garden goes on fire."

I nodded and raised my hand towards the tree, making the fire go out just like that. I then felt Damon's arms around me again and his lips pressed against mine, burying his fingers in my hair. I slipped my arms around his neck and took in the familiar scent of scotch, leather, and something metallic that could only be blood. I felt his lips move to my neck and he took in my scent too.

"We still need to continue what we started last night…" he said quietly, kissing me softly on the side of my neck.

As tempting as it was, then I had other things on my mind right now that were more important that helping Damon with his needs, so I pulled away and cupped his face with my hands.

"Later. Right now we have other things to do." I said and walked back inside.

Damon groaned, but he walked inside with me and while we waited for Seraphina to return with answers about whether or not the Lémieux family wanted to meet with me, we prepared ourselves for the meeting in case it didn't turn out as we wanted to.

My grandfather had a whole basement filled with old weapons he used in his younger years that he modified into weapons we could use without drawing too much attention to us.

Since the witches had already seen Stefan and Elena, they sadly couldn't keep an eye on us nearby where I was meeting Damien's parents and my grandparents were well-known in the area as well, so I called Elijah to assist us with our plan.

It felt like forever since I had last talked with Elijah and I missed him dearly. He raised me and did everything he could to protect me. I hadn't even talked with him after I woke up from the dead, besides that one time at the hospital where Avelina was in control of my body and mind. He had been so busy helping his brothers and sisters, but I understood that they needed help more than I did.

Elijah arrived at late in the evening and he had brought one of his sister's with him. Her name was Adrienne and she had beautiful, dark brown eyes, long, brown hair and caught even Damon's attention. The first thing I did when Elijah was walking towards the chateau was to run towards him as fast as I could and hug him. It wasn't intentionally, but I just missed him so damn much and he seemed like he missed me too.

"Bonsoir, Rhianna," Elijah said, chuckling softly. "How are you doing?"

"Great or… well, everything was going great, until Lémieux's family ruined my vacation," I said. "But I've talked with the world's first and oldest witch Seraphina and–"

"Seraphina!" It wasn't a question, but more an exclamation and Elijah exclaimed her name because she was standing a few feet behind me. I turned around and could see that Seraphina recognized Elijah too and I wondered when they had met each other. "I thought you went incognito and didn't want to help anyone anymore…"

Seraphina looked away for a moment, but walked up to him and I took a few steps away to let them talk alone. They obviously had a history with each other and needed to catch up, so I signed for Adrienne to follow me inside and we let them have their privacy. I did have a strong feeling about how they knew each other and I hoped that my feeling was right, because Elijah deserved to be loved.

"They used to be in love a long time ago, you know," Adrienne said quietly when we entered the chateau. "Elijah has always liked mature women and he fell for Sera almost immediately. But then Klaus came in the picture and they… drifted away."

"You think he still loves her?" I asked curiously.

Adrienne shrugged and we both noticed that Damon was staring at us with a look on his face I recognized and didn't like to see.

"Damon, this is Elijah's sister Adrienne. And this is Damon – my extremely annoying fiancé, who won't get lucky for a whole month if he keeps staring at you." I said.

"I'm not staring!" Damon said. "I'm just trying to figure out how Elijah can have such a…" I narrowed my eyes at Damon, forcing him to choose his words carefully. "Such an interesting sister! Rhia, did I mention how much I love you?"

I rolled my eyes of Damon and took Adrienne to the others in the living room. She greeted them and told us that she wanted to help us when she heard that Elijah was going to help me. She also told us that Elijah had told her and their other siblings a lot about me, what happened before they were awakened by my dad, and what was going on right now.

"Why do I first hear that you are meeting with the Lémieux family now?" Elijah asked, returning _without_ Seraphina.

I blushed and felt like I did before we moved to Mystic Falls and lived together. Whenever I did do something wrong, Elijah would scold me and make me feel like I had just destroyed the whole planet and not just made a very stupid or reckless choice. If he ever adopted other children, then he would certainly become a strict, but great father.

"I'm sorry, Elijah, but I didn't want to worry about me," I answered. "Besides, Damon and I have already had that discussion and we agreed that he will be going with me. But did Seraphina tell you if Damien's parents even want to meet up with me?"

Elijah nodded. "They want to meet you tomorrow afternoon at a café nearby, but they said that they wanted you to come alone. But it's a good thing that Adrienne offered to help, because they won't recognize her in the café or me."

"What? They can't seriously believe that we're going to let her go alone!" Damon said angrily.

"Damon, they're already furious with you and Rhianna as it is. We might not get a chance to sort this out without having to kill them. You can wait outside the café, but Adrienne and I will be inside and if they as much as try to say a spell, we will kill them."

"Elijah is right and he and Adrienne are stronger than you, so…" I said, but this time Damon wasn't the one who wanted to agree. "Please trust me Damon! You never let me do something alone."

"Yeah, well that's because you always get yourself killed!" he said.

I blushed even more. "That's not true! But can't we just go with Elijah's plan? Pretty please?"

I tried using my puppy eyes to make him say yes, but he was immune to it, so I took him in to the kitchen so we could talk alone instead.

"Just give me a chance, Damon, and if things go wrong, then you get to decide the next plans and I won't question your decisions. I promise," I said pleadingly. "And I will let you decide whenever and wherever we're going to make love."

_That_ caught Damon's interest and he agreed to go on with Elijah's plan. But when we returned to the living room, my grandfather was now the one to cause problems. He was in the middle of questioning Elijah about everything from how I knew him to whether or not he could be trusted. My grandfather didn't put a bullet in Elijah, but actually had a calm and decent conversation with Elijah, who of course wasn't afraid of him at all, because he knew that my grandfather couldn't kill him.

"Be careful, Eli. He shot Damon twice," I said teasingly and sat down on the couch next to him. He chuckled, but still didn't seem afraid. "Elijah is definitely trustable. He raised me from since I was five and scared boys away until we moved to Mystic Falls."

My grandfather smiled and he poured up a glass of Bourbon for both of them. I needed a glass too, but as soon as I had poured up a glass for myself, Elijah took it from me.

"You are too young to drink, Rhia."

"He's right, Rhia. But you're welcome to drink a non-alcoholic root beer." Grandpa said.

I glared at them, but they didn't budge, so I groaned and went to the kitchen where my grandmother was having a cup of tea with Elena.

"Grand-mère, please tell me that grand-père first let my dad drink when he was 21, because or else I'm going to complain!" I said and sat down with them.

My grandmother chuckled softly and poured up a cup of tea for me too. "In that case you might want to complain, because he already had his first glass of Bourbon when he was 12." she said.

I groaned again, but chose not to complain and I was distracted by what Elena had on her left hand anyway. It was a stunning engagement ring and it looked pretty old, so it must have been one of either his mother's or grandmother's rings.

"Oh my God! Elena Gilbert! Why didn't you tell me that you got engaged?" I exclaimed.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	40. Whenever And Wherever

**A/N: Hii, and OMG! I can't believe that this is really the final chapter of this story! O_O**

**However, I can't thank you enough for all the amazing reviews, faves, and alerts I have gotten on this story and I truly never expected this story to become my most reviewed story! So THANK YOU VERY MUCH for that and I hope that you will of course enjoy this final chap, because I certainly enjoyed writing it and wrote non-stop for 2-3 hours without any breaks just to give you the chapter today! ;)**

**So... for the final time - enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 40:

The café was filled with customers when I entered it, but in the crowd of hungry and thirsty, noisy people I spotted Elijah and Adrienne. They were seated at the counter and drank a cup of coffee, but I could tell that they were keeping an eye on me and all the other customers in case Damien's parents wanted to ambush me or use their magic on me.

I scanned the room for two adults that looked like Damien and spotted a man with dark hair and pale green eyes. Next to him sat a woman with blond hair and blue-grayish eyes and they both looked very rich and snobbish. I guessed that it was them, so I walked up to their table and could tell that they recognized me as well when they looked up from their coffee cups.

"Mademoiselle De Sauveterre," Damien's father said, sounding very annoyed. "I am Adam Lémieux and this is my wife Gisèle. We understand that you wish to make a truce with us, but your strongest power cannot give back our son."

"I know and even though I only killed him in self-defense, then I never meant for him to die. I want to give him his life back, but I'm not sure of how to do it." I said.

I didn't know if they believed me or not, but they seemed to know that I truly was sorry about the death of their son.

"Not many witches or warlocks can bring back the dead," Gisèle said. "But we know that Avelina brought you back and since you are related to her, then you should be able to do it too."

"How?" I asked worriedly.

"By making a blood sacrifice and giving him some of your powers," Adam answered. "It is a very difficult task, but with your immortality you should be able to do it. If you truly want to help us."

"I do. Trust me, I do." I noticed that Damon was waiting impatiently outside in his car and sighed.

I knew that Damon would be furious at me if I brought Damien back, but no amount of power could bring back their son. The only way I could settle this was by bringing Damien back and if that could stop his parents from starting a war between my and their family then I was going to do it.

"They're tricking you, Rhia," Elijah suddenly said and took a seat next to me, looking angrier than I had ever seen him be angry before. "I know what a blood sacrifice will do. Rhianna will end up dying and your son will have more powers."

"What?" I exclaimed, horrified with the fact that they almost tricked me. I really thought that they were going to play fair, but apparently there was a reason why none of my family trusted them. "I can't believe you two! I'm trying to be friendly with you and giving you a chance and then you abuse my trust for your own personal gain!"

Adam snorted and didn't seem that worried about Elijah being here. I began understanding why and looked around in the café. This was no ordinary café and none of the customers were normal. I saw how they were all staring at us and realized why the Lémieux had chosen this particular café. They owned this place and made it look like it was full of innocent and normal customers, who didn't know what I, Adrienne or Elijah was.

"Make on move and I will kill every one of you," Elijah said nonchalantly, making even me shiver with fear. "I know that you Lémieux cannot be trusted. You never can be. That's why I didn't come alone either. Rhia, get down!"

Before I could do that Elijah had already pulled me under the table and I suddenly heard a loud crash as the windows exploded inside. People outside started screaming and the witches were looking for me, but Elijah had already disappeared with me and took me to Adrienne, who now stood outside with a few coins in her hand. I realized that she was the one who made the windows explode by throwing the coins at them, because she and Elijah knew that this was an ambush.

"I want to say 'I told you so', but right now we really need to get away!" Damon said as I ran up to the car with Elijah.

We nearly jumped into the car and drove away as fast as we could back to my grandfather's home. I had a feeling that this plan might go wrong, but I really hoped that it wouldn't, because now the war had been ignited anyway and I had to kill protect my family before they went after them instead.

"Rhia, you're bleeding!" Adrienne said, lifting my bloody hand up from my lap.

I saw the dark red blood drops trickle down my arm and began feeling dizzy. It wasn't because I wasn't used to see blood, but more because I had a huge glass splinter in my hand that I had been too in shock to notice. I closed my eyes and tried pulling it out, but the pain was simply unbearable.

"We'll get it out when we get back to the chateau," Elijah said. "Right now we need to think of what to do when they make their first move."

I nodded in agreement, but as soon as we got back to my grandparents they rushed to help me and Stefan and Elena were shocked to see the piece of glass that stuck through my hand. But Damon pulled it out for me in one quick pull and then gave me some of his blood, so the wound would heal up quickly. He might have been right about how the meeting would go, but right now he was too busy taking care of me to gloat over how right he was.

"Elijah, have you contacted your other siblings?" I asked worriedly.

We were going to need as much help as possible since my mother's side of the family was currently still in America and had no clue of what was going on.

"I called them this morning," he said. "They should be on their way to the chateau…"

We suddenly heard a loud crash coming from the west side of the chateau and quickly armed ourselves with my grandfather's weapons. We then slowly walked towards where the noises were coming from and from the smoke arrows appeared, flying straight towards me, but Damon quickly jumped in front of me and was hit in the back.

Damon collapsed in my embrace and while Elijah, my grandfather, and Stefan went after them, Elena and my grandmother helped me get Damon to the nearest chair, so I could pull the arrows out. I had only pulled two of the three arrows that hit him out when I saw fireballs being thrown towards us. I quickly raised my hand this time and made them fly back into the warlock, who attacked us and sent him flying into the wall so hard that he was knocked unconscious.

"Get that damn arrow out so I can kill them myself!" Damon almost snarled.

"Don't yell at me!" I said and pulled it out much harder than I intended to.

However, Damon didn't get the chance to complain, because more witches and warlocks emerged from the smoke filled hallway and Damon didn't hesitate to kill them. He swiftly ran up to them and snapped their necks, then took their weapons and signed for us to follow him. We ran down the smoke filled hallways and looked for the others and found them outside in the garden, fighting for their lives and killing one witch after another.

The Lémieux family knew that they were starting to lose, so some of them started chanting and made Damon and Stefan drop down on their knees, because they got a massive aneurism. My grandmother aimed her rifle at them like a professional hunter and shot four of them right in the heart, while Elena and I fought some of the family's vampire minions.

Everything was happening so fast that it was nearly impossible for me to register what was going on. I wasn't just fighting against a few witches now, but against a whole family of angry witches. This was a war and it was impossible to tell who were going to win. While they were many more than us, then I had help from two Originals, two vampires, and two vampire hunters.

Unfortunately, vampires weren't the only thing they had contacted to help them.

A couple of growling werewolves were here even though tonight didn't have a full moon and the sun hadn't gone down yet. The werewolves were able to transform earlier, because the Lémieux family was much stronger than I anticipated and that could be a major problem for me.

However, just as I thought that we were going to lose, the rest of the Originals came and immediately attacked the werewolves. I sighed in relief and continued using my magic against them.

I was starting to get more and more exhausted, because I wasn't used to use so much power all at once, but I ignored the nosebleed, the pain in my head, and the dizziness and fought bravely. I couldn't stop now and had to fight even though I didn't want to. And as the battle went on we were eventually forced back inside the chateau as the Lémieux were now using much darker magic that made even the Originals drop down to their knees and cry out in pain.

"How the hell did they get so strong?" Adrienne hissed angrily, barricading the doors with the couch and whatever else she could find.

"They've been collecting powers and magical objects for years," Elijah said, barricading the other doors. "We need to continue fight them, because the more dark magic they use, the more tired they will eventually become."

"But we're tired too! I don't know if I can keep fighting!" Elena said, panting hard.

They were all arguing and discussing what was the best thing to do, while I quietly left the living room and staggered into the kitchen. I had to hold on to the furniture as I walked, because my legs were all wobbly and the bleeding wound I had on my knee was hurting so badly. I tore my shirt and used the piece of fabric to stop the bleeding, but it was hard to stay focused when I was feeling so lightheaded and the room was spinning around me.

"Rhia!" I heard Damon shout and the next thing I knew I collapsed in his arms. He gently placed me on the kitchen table and pushed the things aside to make room for me. Without any warning he bit his wrist open again and forced me to drink his blood. But even though the wounds healed up, then I was still so weak and tired. "It's okay, Rhia. I'm here and I'm not leaving you."

I heard how worried he was for me and refused to die again. I forced myself to sit up and jumped off the table, but I was still lightheaded, so I had to support myself on Damon. But just as we heard a loud, deafening crash coming from the living room, someone familiar appeared in front of me. It was Emma and she looked worried for me. She walked up to me and licked my blood covered hand.

"Emma, please help us. I don't think I can fight for much longer…" I said, falling down on my knees in front of her. "Please… I'm begging you."

For a moment it looked like she had tears in her eyes, but she quickly looked away and suddenly let out a loud howl that everyone heard. She was summoning her mistress, who immediately showed up in the living room and made everyone stop with what they were doing. Damon picked me up in his arms and carried me in to the living room, which seemed to catch Seraphina's attention.

"This war will end now," she said, but it felt more like she was saying it only to me as if to say that I didn't have to fight anymore. "Too many have died already and no more shall die. Lémieux you will all go home with your dignity in tact and as punishment for abusing my help to trick Rhianna, I will not bring back Damien or those who have died today. That is your punishment. Now go before I take your powers away!"

I could hear that Seraphina was pissed and it wasn't just because the Lémieux family had tricked as well by saying yes to meet me in a peaceful manner, but also because they had used their magic for own personal gain and mostly because they used dark magic. They should be ashamed didn't deserve their powers. Witches were supposed to use their powers to keep the world in balance and protect the nature, but instead they had used them for their own satisfaction and that was their downfall.

Reluctantly, the last remaining Lémieux family members and their minions left and Seraphina turned her attention back to me. She told Damon to place me on the floor and kneeled beside me.

Seraphina didn't chant the words like normal witches did, but she sang the words and it sounded hauntingly beautiful. She restored my energy and healed my wounds completely, but as she was healing me I saw a bitter and wounded Adam Lémieux aiming his crossbow towards Seraphina and fired before I could warn her.

However, much to Adam's surprise Seraphina already knew that he was there and didn't even have to turn around to make the arrow change its direction and hit Adam in his heart. I reminded myself mentally not to piss Seraphina off in the future, because she was one dangerous witch that you didn't want to annoy or be disrespectful to.

"Thank you, Sera," Elijah said softly, kneeling beside her. I could see love in his eyes and I could see the same thing in Seraphina's eyes. I didn't say anything, but merely smiled. "How are you feeling, Rhianna?"

"Tired, but much better than before," I said hoarsely. "Is everyone alright?"

I looked around and saw that my friends, fiancé, and family were all wounded, but they were alive nonetheless and that was what mostly mattered. Damon sat down next to me and smiled weakly. I wanted to say something, but words seemed unnecessary right now. So instead I just held his hand in mine and was thankful to be alive.

"I will be keeping an eye on the Lémieux family," Seraphina said, breaking the silence. "If they as much as steal another magical object or use their magic for own personal gain, then I will take their powers away from them."

I thanked Seraphina and watched her as she and Emma disappeared once again. Damon carried me into one of the bedrooms, while the non-vampires were given blood so their wounds would heal up and the vampires drank the blood they had brought along on the trip.

"Congratulations, my love!" Damon said, chuckling softly as he placed me on my bed.

I chuckled, but stopped because my body was still sore. "What for?" I asked curiously.

Damon smirked and lied down next to me, letting me tug myself close to him and rest my head on his shoulder. I could feel his heart beat when I placed my hand on his chest and enjoyed the feeling of knowing that we were both alive.

"For once you didn't die and now I can decide whenever and _wherever_ I want to make love to you!"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I had nearly forgotten about the deal I made with him.

"You so want to make love to me right now, don't you?"

Damon smirked brighter. "Oh, yeah!"

**Thanks for reading and please review! ^_^**


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